Flight zone

"Flight distance" redirects here. For aircraft flight distance, see flight length.
Flight initiation distance (FID) buffer from critical wildlife area.[1][2]

The flight zone of an animal is the area surrounding an animal that if encroached upon by a potential predator or threat, including humans, will cause alarm and escape behavior. The flight zone is determined by the animal's flight distance, sometimes called[3] flight initiation distance (FID)[4] which extends horizontally from the animal and sometimes vertically. It may also be termed[citation needed] escape distance, alert distance, flush distance, and escape flight distance.

Swiss zoologist Heini Hediger distinguished between flight distance (run boundary), critical distance (attack boundary), personal distance (distance separating members of non-contact species, as a pair of swans), and social distance (intraspecies communication distance).

Flight distance can be used as a measure of the willingness of an animal to take risks. Escape theory predicts that the probability of fleeing and flight distance increase as predation risk increases and decrease as escape cost increases.[5] Flight initiation distance is one measure of animals' fear responses to humans.[6]

In a study comparing 56 bird species with long flight distances, it was found these had declining populations in Europe. This indicates that standardized measures of flight distance can provide reliable information about the population consequences of risk-taking behaviour by individuals and the susceptibility of different species to increased levels of disturbance by humans.[5] A further study analyzing 75 flight initiation distance studies of 212 species found that larger species are more tolerant of humans.[6]

When the flight zone of a group of bulls was invaded by a mechanical trolley, the bulls moved away and maintained a constant distance between themselves and the trolley.[7] This indicates animals sometimes maintain a flight zone around inanimate objects.

The flight initiation distance is being used as a tool in wildlife management.[8] By studying flight zones, wildlife managers are able to reduce the impact of humans by creating buffer zones between human populations and animal habitats.[8]

The alert distance (AD) is the distance, by definition greater, within which the animal changes its behaviour in a manner enabling it to better observe the stimulus, as by raising the head in an alert posture, but does not necessarily flee unless the stimulus is also within the escape distance.[9][10][11] These measures are usually used to quantify the tolerance of wildlife to humans.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bentrup08 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Bentrup, G. (2008). "Flight Initiation Distance Buffers". USDA National Agroforestry Center. Archived from the original on 12 December 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
  3. ^ Grandin, Temple; Deesing, Mark (2014). Genetics and Behavior During Handling, Restraint, and Herding. Elsevier Inc. p. 121.
  4. ^ Bentrup, G. (2008). "Flight Initiation Distance Buffers". USDA National Agroforestry Center. Archived from the original on 12 December 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
  5. ^ a b Moller, A.P. (2008). "Flight distance and population trends in European breeding birds". Behavioral Ecology. 19 (6): 1095–1102. doi:10.1093/beheco/arn103.
  6. ^ a b Stuart Wolpert (16 November 2015). "Why are some wild animals more tolerant to human interaction than others?". UCLA. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  7. ^ Kilgour, R., (1971). Animal handling in works, pertinent behaviour studies. 13th Meat Industry Research Conference, Hamilton, New Zealand. pp. 9–12
  8. ^ a b Blumstein, D. T.; Anthony, L. L.; Harcourt, R.; Ross, G. (2003). "Testing a key assumption of wildlife buffer zones: is flight initiation distance a species-specific trait?". Biological Conservation. 110 (1): 97–100. Bibcode:2003BCons.110...97B. doi:10.1016/s0006-3207(02)00180-5.
  9. ^ Ruddock M., Whitfield D. P. (2007). "A Review of Disturbance Distances in Selected Bird Species, A report from Natural Research (Projects) Ltd to Scottish Natural Heritage" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 28, 2013. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
  10. ^ Laursen K.; Kahlert J.; Frikke; J. (2005). "Factors affecting escape distances of staging waterbirds" (PDF). Wildlife Biology. 11 (1): 13–19. doi:10.2981/0909-6396(2005)11[13:faedos]2.0.co;2. S2CID 86208796. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  11. ^ Bregnballe T.; Aaen K.; Fox A. D. (2009). "Escape distances from human pedestrians by staging waterbirds in a Danish wetland" (PDF). Wildfowl (Special Issue 2): 115–130. Retrieved 4 September 2012.[permanent dead link]