# Effects of Varied Stimuli on Escape Behavior Diversification of Himalayan Marmots for Different Human Disturbances

## TL;DR

Himalayan marmots show unique escape behaviors when exposed to humans and dogs, with humans perceived as a greater threat than dogs.

## Contribution

The study reveals that Himalayan marmots treat humans as a greater threat than dogs, differing from other marmot species.

## Key findings

- Marmots showed shorter alert and flight distances for dogs compared to humans.
- Escape distances decreased with higher disturbance intensity when humans were involved.
- No diversification in escape behavior was observed when threatened by a single dog.

## Abstract

Many studies have found that wild animals exhibit a longer FID when threatened by a single dog or a leashed dog accompanied by a human, i.e., dogs are treated as a greater threat than humans. This study investigated the effects of different stimuli (a running or walking man with or without a leashed dog and a dog alone) on the escape behavior of four Himalayan marmot populations experiencing different human disturbances. Surprisingly, these Himalayan marmots exhibited a unique escape strategy relative to other marmot species. Overall, they treated humans as a greater threat than dogs: the alert distance (AD) and flight-initiation distance (FID) derived from dogs were shorter than the AD and FID derived from humans and were unaffected by the intensity of disturbance. When the stimuli involved humans, the AD and FID both become shorter with an increase in the disturbance intensity. Moreover, the effect of threat speed on the escape behavior was evident only in the population disturbed at the highest sites (a faster speed and a longer FID). These new study findings may result from the small size and white color of the dog used in this study. To further explore the effect of dogs on the escape behavior of Himalayan marmots, different-sized dogs with varied colors should be utilized in future studies.

We measured the alert distance (AD), flight-initiation distance (FID), buffer distance (BD), and distance fled (DF) of Himalayan marmots (Marmota himalayana) from four populations experiencing human disturbances of the same persistence but different intensities when subjected to varied stimuli (a running or walking man with or without a leashed dog and a dog alone). We analyzed the effects of different stimuli on the AD, FID, BD, and DF of marmots from each population and the relationship among the AD, FID, and DF to illustrate the escape strategy diversification of the studied marmots for different human disturbances when disturbed by varied stimuli. We found that intra-population diversification emerged when the marmots were threatened by different stimuli. The AD and FID were shorter when an individual was walking toward than when he was running toward the focal marmots. A man with a leashed dog as a stimulus produced a similar result to that of a man alone. Nevertheless, no diversification emerged when a single dog was the threat, and all three distances triggered due to the dog were significantly shorter than those triggered due to a man alone (walking or running) or a man with a leashed dog approaching the marmots. Inter-population diversification also emerged when the marmots from the four populations were disturbed by the same stimulus: when threatened by an individual or a man with a leashed dog, their escape behavior was determined by the intensity of the disturbance. The changes in the AD and FID were similar across all four populations, with the two distances increasing with the decrease in disturbance intensity, but the DF showed no significant variation across all the four areas. No significant inter-population diversification emerged when the marmots were threatened by a single dog. These diversifications may result from the different levels of habituation of marmots to human disturbances and the different sizes and, consequently, visibilities of humans and dogs.