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Le bâillement foetal
Le bâillement, du réflexe à la pathologie
Le bâillement : de l'éthologie à la médecine clinique
Le bâillement : phylogenèse, éthologie, nosogénie
 Le bâillement : un comportement universel
La parakinésie brachiale oscitante
Yawning: its cycle, its role
Warum gähnen wir ?
 
Fetal yawning assessed by 3D and 4D sonography
Le bâillement foetal
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Acta Theriologica
2009;54 (3): 219-224
The impact of tourists on lion Panthera leo
behaviour, stress and energetics
Hayward MW, Hayward GJ
 
Maintenance behavior - Comportement substitutif

Chat-logomini

 
African conservation areasyawning are internationally sought out as destinations to observe charismatic megafauna. Recently, research has identified that wildlife can become stressed at the presence of human observers and tourists. We investigated the impact of tourist presence and absence on the reintroduced lion Panthera leo Linnaeus, 1758 population in Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa, by measuring the frequency of disturbance-indicating (yawning, sitting, standing, moving away) and relaxation-indicating (rolling, grooming) behaviours when tourists were present and absent. Lions were significantly more likely to exhibit disturbance behaviours when tourists were present, and significantly more likely to perform relaxation behaviours when tourists were absent. We also measured the number of breaths per minute, as an indicator of stress, and found that this also increased in the presence of tourists. Lions incur stress and an energetic cost (albeit minor) from being observed by tourists. Some lion populations may face this chronically, which may increase their susceptibility to disease by reducing their immunity. Enforcing rules banning off-road driving in pursuit of wildlife and ensuring adequate refuge away from tourist infrastructure are important methods to minimise the stressful impacts of tourists on wildlife.
 
Introduction
 
Ecotourism is considered to offer substantial benefits to biodiversity conservation by yielding economic benefits to lands that would otherwise have been managed with little consideration for biodiversity (Hayward 2005, Lindsey et al. 2005, 2009, Norton-Griffiths 2007). Yet it is only recently that the impact of ecotourism on the biodiversity it is hypothesised to benefit has been investigated (Kruger 2005). Similarly, the subtle impacts of tourism, via sublethal physiological effects, which may ultimately reduce individual fitness and have population consequences, are slowly becoming apparent (Buckley 2001, McClung et al. 2004) suggesting ecotourism is far from benign.
 
Ecotourism has been shown to have a range of impacts on wildlife. For example, tourist presence reduced body condition and health in lizards (Amo et al. 2006). Fledgling penguins in New Zealand are smaller and had lower survival rates at ecotourism sites than sites without tourists (McClung et al. 2004). Seabird nesting behaviour was also affected by tourist presence (Burger and Gochfeld 1993). Tourist presence causes higher rates of disease mortality in chimpanzees (Kondgen et al. 2008). Whale watching affects the behaviour of marine mammals, for example, dolphins Tursiops truncatus are forced to reduce resting time and remain active for longer periods in the presence of permitted tourist boats (Constantine et al. 2003). Brown bears Ursus arctos altered their foraging behaviour and, in some cases, food intake in experiments of ecotourism impacts (Rode et al. 2006). Tourists on snowmobiles caused increased stress levels in wolves Canis lupus and elk Cervus elaphus (Creel et al. 2002). Apart from the latter studies, very little work has been done on the impacts of ecotourism on wild terrestrial mammals, although cheetah Acinonyx jubatus hunting behaviour was affected by the presence of tourists (Eaton 1970).
 
Conservation in Africa is becoming increasingly dependent upon the economic benefits provided by ecotourism (Lindsey et al. 2005, 2009). Lions Panthera leo Linnaeus, 1758 are amongst the most sought after animals to view by tourists (Boshoff et al. 2007, Lindsey et al. 2007). Hence, any reduction in their visibility by tourists could have economic ramifications as tourists seek other sites where lions are more visible. Ultimately, this would reduce the economic benefits of ecotourism ventures compared to agriculture and risk losing the benefits of habitat conservation in private lands that are necessary to conserve viable populations of wildlife to sustain an ecotourism venture (Lindsey et al. 2005, 2009).
 
Stress is known to increase breathing and heart rate (Wareham et al. 1997, Eston et al. 1998), and hence energy expenditure (Cohen et al. 1975), and ultimately reduce immunity to disease (Ellenberg et al. 2006). There are several behaviours of felids that may indicate stress or discomfort. Yawning is a behaviour that felids use to warn conspecifics not to approach any closer (Estes 1999). Sitting up from a lying/ sleeping position, standing and moving indicate a readiness for activity that can be caused by the approach of tourists or their behaviour/noise. These behaviours also incur an energetic cost, albeit minor, that may not have occurred had the animal remained lying or asleep. Conversely, grooming is a relaxation behaviour in felids (Estes 1999). Breathing rate is an indirect measure of energy expenditure (Wareham et al. 1997, Eston et al. 1998) that we used to measure the energetic costs of tourists on lions. Similar physiological responses were used to identify the impacts of tourists on penguins (Ellenberg et al. 2006) and cheetahs (Eaton 1974). In this study, we tested the predictions that stress/warning (yawning) and energetically costly behaviours like sitting, standing and moving would be more common when tourists were present, which would be reflected in increased breathing rates; and that relaxation behaviour (grooming) would be more common when tourists were absent.
 
Discussion
 
Lions incur energetic costs (albeit minor) attributable to the presence of tourists through an increased frequency of energetically expensive behaviour. The increased rate of breathing is also an indicator of stress, which may compound the impact of the increase in disturbance related behaviours.
 
The impact of tourists on lions in Addo may be an underestimate compared to other sites throughout Africa. Addo has a relatively low visitation rate (150 000 per year) and offers dense vegetation that can act as a refuge for lions from tourists (Bradfield 2005). Numerous ecotourism sites around Africa have a much higher visitation rate, which may increase the frequency of lions being observed at close proximity by tourists. Other sites are far more open (notably the Serengeti &endash; Mara ecosystem) and lions have little refuge habitat. Private game reserves offer opportunities to observe predators at very close proximity and game drives can leave the road to follow moving animals. This may mean that predators cannot get refuge from harassment and may lead to much greater behavioural modification and energetic costs. There are rules to prevent this in most state-owned conservation areas, however off-road driving in pursuit of animals of interest is not uncommon (MWH pers. obs.). While habituation occurs, our observations suggest that lions can discriminate between vehicles and possibly even people within those vehicles (MWH pers. obs.), so frequent presence of novel vehicles and tourists is not likely to lead to habituation. Habituation to game drive vehicles may occur, but our results suggest habituation to private tourist vehicles did not occur. It may not be the vehicles themselves that causes stress, rather the behaviour of the tourists within, which included loud talking and leaning out of windows.
 
While the stress and energetic impacts of tourists on lions do not appear great and may not have population-level consequences, it is feasible that continued presence may lead to chronic impacts and consequences. If these impacts do become chronic, then wildlife may become more susceptible to disease, which may ultimately threaten small populations, particularly those that are enclosed. While stress has not been shown to have population level consequences in lions, such impacts have been observed in a range of penguin species (Ellenberg et al. 2006).
 
Determining the actual impacts of human observers is only possible by investigating reproductive output and mortality, which require study over much longer term than was possible in this pilot study. Although lions are commonly considered to be accustomed to tourists, the significance of results obtained in this preliminary study points at the fact that some impact may be overlooked and it urges for more detailed research in other areas. Recent research suggests that other supposedly resilient species are also impacted by human presence (eg spotted hyaenas Crocuta crocuta in the Masai Mara, Kenya; Kolowski and Holekamp 2008).
 
Strict adherence to roads is one way to minimize tourist impacts, as well as ensuring wildlife gets some refuge sites where they can avoid humans. Spatial displacement of animals into refuge from tourists can lead to excess energetic costs however (Rode et al. 2006)