Bold but not innovative in an urban exploiter, the red fox ( Vulpes vulpes )
Bold but not innovative in an urban exploiter, the red fox ( Vulpes vulpes )
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大胆但不创新的城市剥削者，红狐（Vulpes vulpes）
DOI：
10.1101/2022.11.04.515174
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发表时间：
2022
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Morton F
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Morton F
城市化是地球上最快的景观变化形式，但研究人员对城市化和动物适应性之间的关系的理解仍处于初级阶段。在觅食方面，提出了大胆和创新的行为，以帮助城市动物获得、利用和开发新的人为食物来源。赤狐是城市中最广为人知、分布最广的物种之一。然而，尽管经常有故事、图片和视频将它们描绘成“害虫”，因为它们开发与食物有关的物体(例如，突袭户外垃圾桶的内容物)，但就开发这些资源的可能性而言，与农村人口相比，它们是否更大胆、更具创新性尚不清楚。在目前的研究中，我们从104个地点(每个地点一个对象)向跨越大的城乡梯度的狐狸提供了与食物相关的新对象。为了获得食物，狐狸必须使用在现实世界中开发许多与食物有关的物体所必需的行为(例如，咬、推、拉或抬起人造材料)。尽管所有的狐狸都承认这些物体，但来自31个地点的狐狸触摸了它们，而来自12个地点的狐狸接触到了里面的食物。对城市和其他景观变量(如道路、绿地和人口密度)的主成分分析表明，城市化与狐狸触摸但不剥削对象的可能性显著正相关。因此，虽然城市狐狸可能比农村狐狸更大胆地接触与食物相关的新物体，但我们的发现与这样的概念不一致，即它们更具创新性，并通过开发这些人为资源对人类造成普遍滋扰。亮点仍不清楚城市化对动物适应性的影响大胆和创新的行为可能有助于一些城市物种的繁荣我们研究了野生红狐对与食物相关的新物体的反应城市狐狸比农村狐狸更大胆，但不是更具创新性城市化可能倾向于更大胆的，而不是更具创新性的狐狸行为
Urbanisation is the fastest form of landscape transformation on the planet, but researchers’ understanding of the relationships between urbanisation and animal adaptability is still in its infancy. In terms of foraging, bold and innovative behaviours are proposed to help urban animals access, utilise, and exploit novel anthropogenic food sources. Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) are one of the best known and widespread urban-dwelling species. However, despite frequent stories, images, and videos portraying them as “pests” due to their exploitation of food-related objects (e.g., raiding the contents of outdoor bins), it is unknown whether they are bolder and more innovative in terms of their likelihood of exploiting these resources compared to rural populations. In the current study, we gave novel food-related objects to foxes from 104 locations (one object per location) across a large urban-rural gradient. To access the food, foxes had to use behaviours necessary for exploiting many food-related objects in the real world (e.g., biting, pushing, pulling, or lifting human-made materials). Despite all foxes acknowledging the objects, foxes from 31 locations touched them, while foxes from 12 locations gained access to the food inside. A principal component analysis of urban and other landscape variables (e.g., road, greenspace, and human population density) revealed that urbanisation was significantly and positively related to the likelihood of foxes touching, but not exploiting, the objects. Thus, while urban foxes may be bolder than rural populations in terms of their willingness to physically touch novel food-related objects, our findings are inconsistent with the notion that they are more innovative and pose a general nuisance to people by exploiting these anthropogenic resources.HighlightsThe impact of urbanisation on animal adaptability remains unclearBold and innovative behaviour may help some urban species thriveWe studied wild red foxes’ responses to novel food-related objectsUrban foxes were bolder, but not more innovative, than rural foxesUrbanisation may favour bolder, not more innovative, fox behaviour