Interesting Nilanga and Femke. Perhaps it comes down to levels/modes of persecution? For example, in Australia, where the Foxlights originated, foxes are very heavily persectued, including being regularly shot at night through "spotlighting". It's possible artifical selection has facilitated or led to high levels of neophobia or risk aversion. 

Are Andean foxes hunted the same way at all? Their tolerance for close human proximity mentioned in the article suggests not, or otherwise, they might not be particularly risk-averse. 

Looking forward to more thoughts from everyone.

Cheers,

Rob

Hi Femke and Nilanga, 

Your post has sparked some interesting responses on Twitter over the weekend. Both responders are members here, so sharing here to ensure the conversation is recorded 

@katzyna shares: 

I learned from @Honeyguide2016 that their team in n. #Tanzania employs powerful strobing flashlights to deter #elephants from farms. It seems to be effective, although I wonder if elephants & other mammals eventually habituate to moving lights? #HWC @STzElephants @WCSTanzania

— Dr Katarzyna Nowak (@katzyna) January 27, 2019

Here's a video made by the Honeyguide team of their flashlight method: https://vimeo.com/238896126 It presents a low tech, affordable solution that works at night, when #elephants tend to venture into farms. #Tanzania #HWC #FoodSecurity #HumanWildlifeCoexistence

— Dr Katarzyna Nowak (@katzyna) January 27, 2019

@zbaynhamherd replied to Katarzyna's first post to share his recent experiences from Tanzania: 

Having just got back from said locations in n TZ - flashlights do exists and deter to an extent (I think) but are far to few in number (1 per village in places) and crop raiding still rampant - ranger jeeps most effective but again only a few

— Zac Baynham-Herd (@ZacBaynhamHerd) January 27, 2019

Hi Rob @Rob+Appleby ,

Found this interesting paper about Andean fox behavior related to behavior in places where they are not persecuted or harassed, in particular, that might interest you. So it seems like behavior can also vary depending on levels of persecution. Do we have anyone on the discussion board who has expertise on Andean foxes who may be able to provide some insight? Fascinating either way in terms of understanding wildlife behavior in relation to proximity to humans and connection to HWC.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236270469_Activity_Patterns_of_the_Culpeo_Fox_Lycalopex_Culpaeus_Magellanica_in_a_Non-Hunting_Area_of_Northwestern_Patagonia_Argentina

Cheers,

Nilanga

Nice find Nilanga! And a very interesting set of results. There's some emerging work over here (Australia) that red foxes sometimes modify activity periods in relation to dingo activity, providing  further confirmation for the "landscape of fear" idea. It's interesting in and of itself that the Andean foxes didn't seem shy about the cameras, as has sometimes been found with other canids (e.g. some coyotes). I believe that in undisturbed environments where canids aren't persecuted, their default behavour is generally one of curiosity (although this may scale in trophic terms, if smaller canids have to live with larger ones etc.). I recently spoke with some film makers who visited a very remote island off Canda's west coast, where wolves live, and rather than the usual "shy" and aloof, behaviour so often described of wolves in areas where they are persecuted, on the contrary, the wolves were immediately curious about the film makers and their equipment. And it's the same as descriptions and footage I've seen of wolves on Baffin Island (east coast of Canada). Our problem as a species (amongst many if we are honest) is that we've forgotten that animals didn't always need to be afraid of us in order to survive. Now, essentially, we demand it of them.