Hogs sleep like logs: Wild boars reduce the risk of anthropic disturbance by adjusting where they rest

Abstract

Resting is a crucial daily requirement for all animals. It serves various purposes such as energy conservation (Glass et al., 2021;Riede et al., 2017), thermoregulation (Lutermann et al., 2010, and predator avoidance (Lima et al., 2005). Additionally, rest encompasses sleep, which is essential for neuro-physiological homeostasis (Freiberg, 2020;Schmidt, 2014). To meet physiological requirements and integrate ecological constraints, such as predation risk, animals allocate a significant proportion-often more than half-of their daily time budget to resting, which takes place at specific resting

Influence of tree cover on carcass detection and consumption by facultative vertebrate scavengers

“…Boars are known to change their behaviour to avoid anthropogenic disturbances – in our case manually opened carcasses (e.g. Fradin & Chamaillé‐Jammes, 2023 ; Johann et al., 2020 ). Moreover, wild boar is extremely sensitive to olfactory cues (e.g.…”

Frequent flight responses, but low escape distance of wild boar to nonlethal human disturbance

“…As animals are more difficult to detect by humans at night, they may not feel the need to move as far after a disturbance. Fradin and Chamaillé‐Jammes (2023) also showed that wild boar exhibit limited daytime movement, even in highly human‐dominated landscapes, but when they do move, possibly due to human disturbance, their distances are typically short (<500 m), except when they are actively hunted. During our experimental approaches, we did not observe any aggressive reactions from wild boar towards the observers, who were only observed or heard on two occasions (out of 29 trials).…”

“…This observation reinforces the tendency of wild boar to avoid humans. On a fine scale, wild boar may rely on vegetation for hiding or escape (Marini et al., 2008; Fradin & Chamaillé‐Jammes, 2023; personal observation) and on a landscape scale, wild boar may avoid human structures during the day when human activity is the highest (Ohashi et al., 2013).…”

“…We predicted that wild boar in areas of high perceived risk, that is, in the hunting zone or near paths, would be more sensitive to human approaches than those in the non‐hunting zone or further away from paths (Fradin & Chamaillé‐Jammes, 2023; Keuling et al., 2008; Muntifering et al., 2019). Our results support this prediction partly, as the likelihood of wild boar fleeing from approaching humans was higher when they were closer to paths.…”

“…To ensure that any movement of the animal was a response to the experimental disturbance, the approach trials were only conducted when the animals were stationary at a resting site, determined based on the last GPS positions before the trial started. Based on wild boar circadian activity patterns (Fradin & Chamaillé‐Jammes, 2023; Johann et al., 2020; Keuling et al., 2008), we scheduled the approach period to begin at noon local time (10:00 UTC) to maximize the likelihood of the animal being at a day bed (Table 1).…”