Effects of Burrow Distance on Anti-predator Vigilance in Foraging Yellow-Bellied Marmots

Abstract

The risk of predation influences the behavior of individuals and can determine how an animal allocates its time when searching for and obtaining food. To reduce predation risk, many animals use refuges and protective cover to increase their chances of survival, but it is unclear how these safe areas affect anti-predator vigilance behaviors (scanning and looking for predators) when the animal is no longer covered. We experimentally tested the effects of burrow distance on anti-predator vigilance in foraging yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) by placing food at increasing distances (1, 5, 10, and 20m) from designated marmot burrows. We measured (1) time latency to forage at feeding stations, (2) reluctance to forage at stations, (3) proportion of time allocated to anti-predator vigilance and foraging, and (4) alert and flight initiation distances in response to an approaching threat. Marmots were reluctant to forage far from the burrow, and time latency to forage increased linearly as distance from the burrow increased. When individuals foraged alone, distance from burrow did not affect the proportion of time allocated to foraging or anti-predator vigilance. However, individuals increased foraging and decreased anti-predator vigilance when 5m from the burrow in the presence of conspecifics. There was no effect of distance from burrow on alert and flight initiation distance. These finding suggest that marmots are equally alert at any distance from burrow, and there may be a distance limit to which social animals rely on others to alert them to predators.

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