Fear no colors? Observer clothing color influences lizard escape behavior.
Animals often view humans as predators, leading to alterations in their behavior. Even nuanced aspects of human activity like clothing color affect animal behavior, but we lack an understanding of when and where such effects will occur. The species confidence hypothesis posits that birds are attract...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2017-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0182146&type=printable |
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| author | Breanna J Putman Jonathan P Drury Daniel T Blumstein Gregory B Pauly |
| author_facet | Breanna J Putman Jonathan P Drury Daniel T Blumstein Gregory B Pauly |
| author_sort | Breanna J Putman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Animals often view humans as predators, leading to alterations in their behavior. Even nuanced aspects of human activity like clothing color affect animal behavior, but we lack an understanding of when and where such effects will occur. The species confidence hypothesis posits that birds are attracted to colors found on their bodies and repelled by non-body colors. Here, we extend this hypothesis taxonomically and conceptually to test whether this pattern is applicable in a non-avian reptile and to suggest that species should respond less fearfully to their sexually-selected signaling color. Responses to clothing color could also be impacted by habituation to humans, so we examine whether behavior varied between areas with low and high human activity. We quantified the effects of four T-shirt colors on flight initiation distances (FID) and on the ease of capture in western fence lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis), and we accounted for detectability against the background environment. We found no differences in lizard behavior between sites. However, lizards tolerated the closest approaches and were most likely to be captured when approached with the T-shirt that resembled their sexually-selected signaling color. Because changes in individual behavior affect fitness, choice of clothing color by people, including tourists, hikers, and researchers, could impact wildlife populations and research outcomes. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-013d1eacb1794f7abe98807744f5da13 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2017-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-013d1eacb1794f7abe98807744f5da132025-08-20T02:46:00ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032017-01-01128e018214610.1371/journal.pone.0182146Fear no colors? Observer clothing color influences lizard escape behavior.Breanna J PutmanJonathan P DruryDaniel T BlumsteinGregory B PaulyAnimals often view humans as predators, leading to alterations in their behavior. Even nuanced aspects of human activity like clothing color affect animal behavior, but we lack an understanding of when and where such effects will occur. The species confidence hypothesis posits that birds are attracted to colors found on their bodies and repelled by non-body colors. Here, we extend this hypothesis taxonomically and conceptually to test whether this pattern is applicable in a non-avian reptile and to suggest that species should respond less fearfully to their sexually-selected signaling color. Responses to clothing color could also be impacted by habituation to humans, so we examine whether behavior varied between areas with low and high human activity. We quantified the effects of four T-shirt colors on flight initiation distances (FID) and on the ease of capture in western fence lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis), and we accounted for detectability against the background environment. We found no differences in lizard behavior between sites. However, lizards tolerated the closest approaches and were most likely to be captured when approached with the T-shirt that resembled their sexually-selected signaling color. Because changes in individual behavior affect fitness, choice of clothing color by people, including tourists, hikers, and researchers, could impact wildlife populations and research outcomes.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0182146&type=printable |
| spellingShingle | Breanna J Putman Jonathan P Drury Daniel T Blumstein Gregory B Pauly Fear no colors? Observer clothing color influences lizard escape behavior. PLoS ONE |
| title | Fear no colors? Observer clothing color influences lizard escape behavior. |
| title_full | Fear no colors? Observer clothing color influences lizard escape behavior. |
| title_fullStr | Fear no colors? Observer clothing color influences lizard escape behavior. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fear no colors? Observer clothing color influences lizard escape behavior. |
| title_short | Fear no colors? Observer clothing color influences lizard escape behavior. |
| title_sort | fear no colors observer clothing color influences lizard escape behavior |
| url | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0182146&type=printable |
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