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Acknowledgements 303

VetBooks.ir it flew down over the cage five minutes into due to predation, we need more research to
improve predator‐training protocols. Two
the test. To ascertain whether juveniles dis-
played antipredator behaviours, the research-
What cues do prey use to identify and/or
ers recorded the following behaviours: total questions that deserve more attention are: (i)
time allocated to vigilance, the frequency of locate predators from a distance? and (ii) If
antipredator vocalisations, the time spent in we incorporate such cues into predator train-
or near a shelter, the time spent active, and ing, will they help animals to survive follow-
whether or not the prairie dog ran away from ing reintroduction to the wild? Chemical
the stimulus. cues are clearly important in this respect, but
Perhaps not surprisingly, juvenile prairie often researchers use urine and/or faeces in
dogs that were trained in the presence of an predator training protocols, yet the biologi-
experienced adult were more wary of preda- cal relevance of these odour cues remains
tors than were juveniles trained alone or in questionable (Apfelbach et al. 2005). In
the presence of an inexperienced sibling Australia, foxes and cats are the major preda-
(Shier and Owings 2007). Once training was tors responsible for the poor success rate of
completed, all the prairie dogs were intro- mammal reintroductions (Moseby et al.
duced to a newly established prairie dog 2011). Identifying the chemicals present in
colony. Survival of prairie dogs was estimated the fur of live foxes and cats that elicit strong
by trapping all the animals one year later dur- fear responses in Australian mammals, and
ing 2002. This design, with only two capture incorporating such chemicals into training
periods does not allow one to distinguish protocols, might help to increase the success
between mortality versus emigration away of future mammal reintroductions. Whilst
from the study site (Lebreton et al. 1992); we can train animals to avoid predators,
nonetheless, long‐distance dispersal by prai- there is still uncertainty about whether pred-
rie dogs occurs rarely, so the researchers con- ator training enhances the survival of ani-
sidered that any animals not captured were mals following reintroduction to the wild.
likely to have perished. In this study, juve- We need more rigorous, well‐designed stud-
niles that were trained to avoid predators in ies to evaluate the usefulness of predator
the presence of an experienced mother or training. In this respect, long‐term monitor-
close relative were more likely to survive one ing of reintroduced animals is essential for
year after release than juveniles that were evaluating the success of such programmes.
trained alone or with an inexperienced sib- Finally, although it is possible to train ani-
ling (Shier and Owings 2007). This finding mals to hunt, avoid certain foods, or avoid
highlights the importance of including predators, there is little point releasing
appropriate social interactions into predator trained animals to the wild unless the threat-
training regimes. ening processes have been identified and
eliminated. Ultimately, we need to educate
people, and manage habitats at release sites
12.11 Final Thoughts carefully if we are to facilitate the long‐term
survival of endangered species.
In this Chapter, I have provided some exam-
ples of some of the methods that we can use
to train captive reared or wild animals. Acknowledgements
Incorporating an understanding of animal
behaviour into conservation biology will I thank Vicky Melfi, Nicole Dorey, and
increase our ability to conserve threatened Samantha Ward for inviting me to write this
taxa, and may also help to solve some of the book chapter, and Myfanwy Webb for pro-
wildlife problems that humans have created. viding critical comments on an earlier
Given that many reintroduction projects fail draught of the manuscript.