Fright of Birds of prey is: learned or innate

Abstract

The relationship between certain species of rodents and oak trees has been established for a long time. Research into this type of relationship has been ongoing for decades. In this research, we have found that there are many factors that interfere. In one of our latest studies, we found that the presence of birds of prey in the branches of the treetops where rodents search for acorns can paralyse the process of acorn dispersal carried out by rodents, due to the danger that this presence poses to the life of the rodents. The aim of this study is to answer the following question: Is the fear of rodents towards birds of prey a behaviour learned through experiences of contact between the two species, or is it an innate behaviour that rodents have imprinted in their genetic codes? To achieve this objective, we designed an experiment in which we placed four specimens of four species of rodents, captured in the wild, individually isolated in semi-wild enclosures. We compared their behaviour under trees with and without the presence of birds of prey with the behaviour shown under the same trees by specimens bred in captivity and then placed in these semi-wild enclosures. We have found that the species that have been occupying oak forests and consuming acorns for the longest time (Algerian mouse (Mus spretus) and Wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus)) exhibit an innate behaviour of escaping from the danger of birds of prey because it is encoded in their genetic codes.