Hunger mediates apex predator's risk avoidance response in wildland–urban interface
Number of files: 4
Item Metadata
Dublin Core
Title
Hunger mediates apex predator's risk avoidance response in wildland–urban interface
Description
Puma (Puma concolor), an apex predator, can live at the edge of cities where pockets of low-density human dwellings form residential patches in the wildland–urban interface. Blecha, Boone, and Alldredge (2018) tracked puma via global positioning system (GPS) telemetry collars to determine when and where they hunted and made kills. Well-fed puma (1–2 days between kills) strongly avoided residential patches despite these areas having higher mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) densities and higher kill success for puma. However, the strong avoidance of residential patches completely disappeared as puma became hungrier (4–10 days since last kill) making it more likely that hungry individuals hunted in residential areas and ultimately increasing the likelihood of puma–human conflict.
Bibliographic Citation
Blecha, K. A., R. B. Boone, and M. W. Alldredge. 2018. Hunger mediates apex predator's risk avoidance response in wildland-urban interface. Journal of Animal Ecology 87:609–622. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12801
Creator
Blecha, Kevin A.
Boone, Randall B.
Alldredge, Mathew W.
Subject
Camera traps
Cougar (Puma concolor)
Energetics
Housing avoidance
Human–predator conflict
Patch use
Risk–reward trade-off
Step selection function
Extent
14 pages
Date Created
2018-04-13
Type
Article
Format
application/pdf
Language
English
Is Part Of
Journal of Animal Ecology
Collection
Citation
Blecha, Kevin A., Boone, Randall B., and Alldredge, Mathew W., “Hunger mediates apex predator's risk avoidance response in wildland–urban interface,” CPW Digital Collections, accessed October 31, 2025, https://cpw.cvlcollections.org/items/show/90.