Ajustement des distances de fuite à l'homme chez Marmota marmota

Abstract

Flight distance is the quantitative measurement of the reactivity and response of an animal to a disturber or predator. Flight distance seems to vary with group size, distance to shelter, and direction of predator approach. We suggest that other factors may influence flight distance, such as frequency of interactions, presence of a dog with the experimenter, presence of pups in the family group outside the burrows, time of day, and number of animals on the home range outside the burrows. We tested these factors on alpine marmots (Marmota marmota) and bobac marmots (Marmota bobac). Alert and flight distances and exit delays are shorter in groups with frequent interactions and in nonhunted groups (M. marmota). The presence of a dog with the experimenter increased alert and flight distances. The presence of pups outside the burrows during the experiment caused an increase in alert and flight distances and in exit delays. Alert and flight distances decreased during the day. A positive correlation was found between alert and flight distances. Alpine marmots emit very few alarm calls in response to the presence of humans. These results correlated with the hypothesis of accommodation of wildlife to human interactions. Marmots adjust their flight distance, which enables them to maintain certain behaviours in spite of the presence of humans.