Tourism influences escape behavior of lizards in relationship with human clothing color

Abstract

Increased tourism pressure modifies animal behavior, including alterations in anti-predator responses and foraging activity. In areas with high tourist presence, animals may become accustomed to increased human activity and adjust the intensity of some defensive responses. An animal’s anti-predation ability is usually estimated by measuring its Alert Initiation Distance (AID) and Flight Initiation Distance (FID). Both indexes are affected by multiple factors including the color of the observer’s clothing. Animal behavior is also influenced by human presence, and individuals may become accustomed to increased human presence, e.g. in tourist areas. In this study, we analysed the escape behavior of the endemic Cyprus rock agama (Laudakia cypriaca) in relation to the observers clothing color. Our results showed that AIDs and FIDs of agamas in tourist areas were significantly shorter than those in non-tourist areas. Moreover, in non-tourist areas, AIDs and FIDs of agamas were significantly longer when the observer wore red clothes, compared to green and grey clothes. Our results may be helpful in planning research taking into account various colored clothing based on expected reptilian reactions. Furthermore, our results may determine the proximity at which humans interact with animals, considering clothing color, to prevent negative impacts especially on rare and protected lizard species.