The impact of human visitors on capuchin monkey behaviour in a remote Amazonian forest

Many animals which were formerly in remote areas have increasing contact with humans, partly due to increasing human population, but also due to the popularity of these locations as destinations for ecotourists. Many animals habituate to human presence, but there are still many questions about the impact of this habituation on their behaviour.

This project will focus on the impact of human presence on the vigilance and spatial behaviour of large-headed capuchin monkey (Sajapus macrocephalus) in Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve. Initially, the presence of humans may increase the time allocated for vigilance, as individuals react to the presence of humans by being more vigilant. Over time, individuals should habituate to human presence and reduce human-directed vigilance. Geffroy et al. (2015) suggest that human tolerance creates a bolder individual which spends less time being vigilant, not only towards humans, but also towards other predators. Alternately, habituated animals may be protected by a ‘human shield’, as predators are scared away by the presence of humans. Over time, lack of exposure to predators may lead animals to become less vigilant.

Predation risk is not evenly distributed across a landscape, and differing predation pressures can be represented using the landscape of fear. The landscape of fear describes the spatial variation in fear, or perceived predation risk by prey species (Laundré et al. 2010). This project will consider evidence for the human shield and spillover boldness hypotheses within the landscape of fear. Other studies of capuchin monkeys have suggested that increased vigilance impacts the amount of time which is available for feeding, and capuchin individuals appear to be less vigilant when there are more individuals of the group within 10m. However, we don’t know how human presence affects vigilance or how anti-predator behaviour varies across the landscape.

This project will require extensive fieldwork in a remote part of the Peruvian Amazon, so previous experience of remote fieldwork is highly desirable. Spanish speaking ability and experience conducting analyses of GIS data are also essential.

Proposed start date September 2018
Please see our webpage for eligibility