Effectiveness of the eastern grey kangaroo foot thump for deterring
conspecifics
Helena Bender
Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic. 3010,
Australia. Email:
Abstract
Overabundant wild populations of herbivores often present challenges to
primary industry, competing with stock, and damaging crops and property.
Eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus) are one of seven macropodid
species that are considered a problem in agriculture in Australia. Most
deterrent devices available commercially use sounds that do not occur in
nature (i.e. artificial sounds), which often have a short-lived or no
effect on the target species, whereas trials with biologically
significant sounds are often more effective and provide greater
resistance to habituation. I used a playback trial of an eastern grey
kangaroo foot thump, a biologically significant signal that is given in
response to a predator and is usually followed by flight. I determined
its effectiveness compared with a recording of background noise
(control) for deterring kangaroos over a seven-week period. Kangaroos
significantly increased their vigilance levels in response to the foot
thump, but not in response to the control signal. Just over 60% of
kangaroos took flight in response to the foot thump and the control
signals, but more kangaroos took flight in the first 3 s when the foot
thump was played. The foot thump shows potential as a deterrent of
eastern grey kangaroos for primary industry, and is less likely to
suffer from habituation because it is a natural sound.
Wildlife Research 32(7) 649-655
Submitted: 1 October 2004 Accepted: 22 September 2005 Published: 24
November 2005
Full text DOI: 10.1071/WR04091
(c) CSIRO 2005
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