Do pastoralist cattle fear African lions?

Abstract

Fear of predators fundamentally shapes the ecology of prey species and drives both inter‐ and intra‐specific interactions. Extensive research has examined the consequences of predation risk from large carnivores on the behavior of wild ungulate prey species. However, many large carnivores not only hunt wild prey but also depredate domestic livestock, especially in pastoralist systems where livestock share land and resources with large carnivores. Northern Tanzania is a hotspot for human–carnivore conflict driven by livestock depredation and interactions are particularly severe between African lions Panthera leo and pastoralist cattle Bos taurus. In this ecosystem, we explored the degree to which pastoralist cattle exhibited anti‐predator behaviors during their daily grazing routines. Using focal animal sampling, we compared two typical anti‐predator behaviors, vigilance and grouping, among cattle in village rangelands with high and low background depredation rates. We found that cattle in high risk village rangelands formed 21.2% larger groups than cattle in low risk village rangelands. Interestingly, cattle in low risk village rangelands spent 68.4% more time vigilant than cattle in high risk village rangelands. These patterns were influenced significantly by the time of day: as sunset approached, cattle in low risk village rangelands spent more time vigilant and cattle in high risk village rangelands formed larger groups. These results suggest that pastoralist cattle exhibit anti‐predator strategies that vary both spatially and temporally, and that such strategies might help livestock optimally tradeoff the costs and benefits of anti‐predator behavior across timescales (i.e. the risk allocation hypothesis). We discuss the implications of our results for husbandry techniques that might reduce behavioral costs associated with cattle anti‐predator behaviors and help increase tolerance for lions and other large carnivores. These improvements are critical to human–carnivore coexistence given the prevalence of pastoralism globally and the rising potential for conflict with large carnivores such as lions.

The Integral Nature of Encounter Rate in Predicting Livestock Depredation Risk

“…Carnivore presence may have substantial effects on both the livestock and the overall conflict driven by livestock depredation. For instance, carnivore presence influences the behavior of cattle in Eastern African grazing landscapes, which may result in reduced foraging (Beck et al, 2020). Impacts such as these, often termed non-consumptive effects or risk effects, have been wellstudied in both wild prey systems and grazing livestock herds (Fortin et al, 2004;Basille et al, 2015;Moll et al, 2017;Beck et al, 2020).…”

“…For instance, carnivore presence influences the behavior of cattle in Eastern African grazing landscapes, which may result in reduced foraging (Beck et al, 2020). Impacts such as these, often termed non-consumptive effects or risk effects, have been wellstudied in both wild prey systems and grazing livestock herds (Fortin et al, 2004;Basille et al, 2015;Moll et al, 2017;Beck et al, 2020). Additionally, interactions with predators may increase livestock stress levels and modify vigilance behavior, resulting in a range of impacts including reduction of body condition and decreased reproductive output (Lima, 1998;Creel et al, 2007;Creel and Christianson, 2008;Laporte et al, 2010).…”

Retaliatory killing negatively affects African lion (Panthera leo) male coalitions in the Tarangire-Manyara Ecosystem, Tanzania

“…This agrees with Mkonyi et al, 2017 [ 53 ] that fewer people engage in retaliation, likely due to fewer cases of livestock attacks by lions. Moreover, an increase in recent studies about lions in TME has broadened the knowledge of the study population [ 53 , 55 – 57 ].…”

Spatial and seasonal variation of livestock depredation by large carnivores in the Pamir Mountains of northern Pakistan

“…To conserve the threatened large carnivores, it is necessary to help livestock owners and mobilize them for conservation (Brink et al, 2021; Mohammadi et al, 2021; Rashid et al, 2019). Additionally, preventing livestock owners from viewing the imperiled large carnivores as pests, securing their livelihoods, and enlisting them as partners in conservation are all crucial to saving imperiled large carnivores (Alexander et al, 2021; Beck et al, 2021; Jackson & Lama, 2016). It is worth mentioning that livestock insurance schemes have been employed for mitigating the HWCs at local scale in northern Pakistan (Hussain, 2000).…”