Urban Wildlife Behavior

Abstract

Wild animals in urban areas face unique challenges. They live in environments modified by and for humans without having evolved in them, but unlike domesticated animals, they remain under the auspices of natural selection. We do not yet know how living in urban areas will ultimately affect the animals that share our urban environments, but we are at the beginning of a new and important scientific effort to study the effects of urbanization on wildlife. Early signs suggest that animals that can tolerate urbanization are quite different in behavior and physiology than those that are limited in distribution to natural areas .In this chapter, we focus on how animal behavior changes in response to urbanization. We use the term urban to refer to habitats undergoing intense human development for purposes of human residency, as seen in cities and suburbs (see Gehrt 2010). Understanding why some animals successfully adapt their behavior to urban areas and others do not can contribute to both the management of urban wildlife and the conservation of species that do not fare well during urbanization. After addressing the behavioral effects of urbanization, we conclude with implications for evolution and biodiversity of animals in urban environments. We have limited our review to terrestrial vertebrates with a few exceptions. Aquatic animal

Importance of latrine communication in European rabbits shifts along a rural–to–urban gradient

“…Human activities affect urban wildlife populations, e.g., through anthropogenic nuisance, habitat fragmentation, and altered food availability (reviewed in [ 22 , 29 ]). Behavioral changes in urban populations compared to populations inhabiting rural areas (like altered flight- or ranging behavior [ 22 , 29 ]) are often interpreted as a direct consequence of animals having to cope with those novel ecological conditions. Our present study demonstrates behavioral changes in European rabbits, namely altered distribution patterns of latrines relative to the corresponding burrow.…”

“…Moreover, changes in population densities can be accompanied by differences in social organization, such as smaller social group sizes (European rabbits: [ 23 ]) or a less coherent social organization in urban and suburban populations (European badgers: [ 24 – 26 ]). Typical behavioral changes in some urban populations include a reduction in time spent foraging [ 27 ] and reduced territorial behavior [ 24 – 26 ], along with smaller territory dimensions (e.g., in raccoons, Procyon lotor [ 27 ]; European badgers [ 26 ]; or red foxes, Vulpes vulpes [ 28 ]; reviewed in [ 29 ]). While the aforementioned species are crepuscular and avoid human disturbance [ 5 , 30 ], other species, like European rabbits, show extended activity rhythms and reduced anti-predator behavior in urban regions [ 31 , 32 ], and so they are also unlikely to reduce territorial behavior.…”

Behavior Change in Urban Mammals: A Systematic Review

“…These adaptive responses may complement species survivability in some cases while being detrimental in others (Lopez-Sepulcre and Kokko, 2012;Lowry et al, 2013;Robertson, 2018;Ellington and Gehrt, 2019). As humans continue to alter the habitat and resources available to urban wildlife, knowing how these animals are adapting their behavior is key to understanding how certain species will persist in urban environments (Ryan and Partan, 2014;Soulsbury and White, 2015).…”

Urban fox squirrels exhibit tolerance to humans but respond to stimuli from natural predators

“…These are often drastic alterations to natural environments, yet, some animals seem to thrive in urban areas by adapting to the novel environmental conditions. Behavior plays an important role in enabling role in enabling animals to persist through environmental change (Baldwin, 1896;Bartholomew, 1964;West Eberhard, 1989;Price et al, 2003;Snell-Rood, 2013) and it seems to play a major role in facilitating the ability of animals to cope with new challenges that they face in urban environments (Ditchkoff et al, 2006;Tuomainen and Candolin, 2011;Lowry et al, 2013;Ryan and Partan, 2014).…”

“…Behavior plays an important role in enabling animals to persist through environmental change (Baldwin, 1896;Bartholomew, 1964;West Eberhard, 1989;Price et al, 2003;Snell-Rood, 2013). Accordingly, it seems to play a major role in facilitating the ability of animals to cope with new challenges that they face in urban environments (Ditchkoff et al, 2006;Tuomainen and Candolin, 2011;Lowry et al, 2013;Ryan and Partan, 2014). One of the most common behavioral adjustments of animals in urban environments is reduced anti-predator behavior in the presence of humans.…”