NEWS
Livestock rub shoulders with lions, leopards,
spotted hyenas, cheetahs, and
African wild dogs. To protect the cattle,
herds (anything between about six
and 100 individual cattle) are kept within
predator-proof enclosures overnight.
However, they generally graze unattended
for most of the day, when the
vast majority of predation occurs.
Working with Botswana Predator Conservation
and local herders, we painted
cattle from 14 herds that had recently
suffered lion attacks. Over four years, a
total of 2,061 cattle were involved in the
study.
Before release from their overnight enclosure,
we painted about one-third
of each herd with an artificial eye-spot
design on the rump, one-third with simple
cross-marks, and left the remaining
third of the herd unmarked. We carried
out 49 painting sessions and each of
these lasted for 24 days.
The cattle were also collared and all
foraged in the same area and moved
similarly, suggesting they were exposed
to similar risk. However, the individuals
painted with artificial eye-spots were
significantly more likely to survive than
unpainted or cross-painted control cattle
within the same herd.
In fact, none of the 683 painted “eyecows”
was killed by ambush predators
during the four-year study, while 15 (of
835) unpainted, and 4 (of 543) crosspainted
cattle were killed.
These results supported our initial
hunch that creating the perception that
the predator had been seen by the prey
would lead it to abandon the hunt.
But there were also some surprises.
Cattle marked with simple crosses were
significantly more likely to survive than
unmarked cattle from the same herd.
This suggests that cross-marks were
better than no marks at all, which was
unexpected.
Figure 2: Nenguba Keitsumetsi demonstrates the eye-cow technique to local
farmer, Rra Ketlogetswe Ramakgalo. Bobby-Jo Photography
From a theoretical perspective, these
results are interesting. Though eye
patterns are common in many animal
groups, notably butterflies, fishes, amphibians,
and birds, no mammals are
known to have natural eye-shaped patterns
that deter predation. In fact, to our
knowledge, our research is the first time
that eye-spots have been shown to deter
large mammalian predators.
Previous work on human responses to
eye patterns, however, do generally
support the detection hypothesis, perhaps
suggesting the presence of an
inherent response to eyes that could
be exploited to modify behaviour in
practical situations, such as to prevent
human-wildlife conflicts, and reduce
criminal activity in humans.
Possible limitations
First, it is important to realise that, in our
experimental design, there were always
unmarked cattle in the herd. Consequently,
it is unclear whether painting
would still be effective if these proverbial
“sacrificial lambs” were not still on
the menu. Further research could uncover
this, but in the meantime applying
artificial marks to the highest-value
individuals within the herd may be most
pragmatic.
Second, it is important to consider habituation,
meaning that predators may
get used to and eventually ignore the
deterrent. This is a fundamental issue
for nearly all non-lethal approaches.
Whether the technique remains effective
in the longer term is not yet known
in this case.
Protecting livestock from wild carnivores
– while conserving carnivores
themselves – is an important and complex
issue that requires the application
of a suite of tools, including practical
and social interventions. While adding
the eye-cow technique to the carnivorelivestock
conflict prevention toolbox,
we note that no single tool is likely to be
a silver bullet. Indeed, we must do better
than a silver bullet if we are to ensure
the successful coexistence of livestock
and large carnivores. Nevertheless, as
part of an expanding non-lethal toolkit,
we hope that this simple, low-cost approach
could reduce the costs of coexistence
for some farmers.
Dr J Weldon McNutt (director, Botswana
Predator Conservation) and Tshepo
Ditlhabang (coexistence officer, Botswana
Predator Conservation) contributed
to this article.
Figure 3: "Eye-cows" by Ben Yexly
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Grassroots Vol 20 No 3 September 2020