Vigilance behaviour in Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) and Alpine chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) kids

In prey species, vigilance is an important behavioural trait with regard to antipredator strategies. It has been studied intensely in animals. However, liŠle is known about vigilance in animal kids. In this study, I investigated the inƒuence of various environmental and social factors on Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) and Alpine chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) kid vigilance behaviour. In the Gran Paradiso National Park, Italy, animals were observed from June to August, 2015, using group scan and focal kid observations. Data was analyzed using general additive and general additive mixed models as well as a cross-correlation function. Œe results revealed that there is no interspeci€c di‚erence in kid scanning behaviour. A group size e‚ect on kid vigilance is given, however no group size e‚ect could be found for adults. Kid vigilance is stronlgy a‚ected by the distance to the closest hiking trail, which can be seen as a proxy for human disturbance. Œis e‚ect does not exist for adults, which suggests a habituation process. Against my expectation, the fear of the group is not reƒected in kid scanning behaviour. In general, kids are more vigilant than adults. Animals scan more in rocky terrain than in grassland and more in the morning than in the evening. Kids synchronize their scanning behaviour with that of adults, which suggests a learning e‚ect between generations. Œe innovative focus of this study on vigilance behaviour in kids reveals that there are still a lot of open questions in this €eld.