Training captive-bred or translocated animals to avoid predators

Animal reintroductions and translocations are potentially important interve ntions to save species from extinction, but most are unsuccessful. Mortalit y due to predation is a principal cause of failure. Animals that have been isolated from predators, either throughout their lifetime or over evolution ary time, may no longer express appropriate antipredator behavior. For this reason, conservation biologists are beginning to include antipredator trai ning in pre-release preparation procedures. We describe the evolutionary an d ontogenetic circumstances under which antipredator behavior may degenerat e or be lost, and we use principles from learning theory to predict which e lements can be enhanced or recovered by training The empirical literature d emonstrates that training can improve antipredator skills, but the effectiv eness of such interventions is influenced by a number of constraints. We pr edict that it will be easier to teach animals to cope with predators if the y have experienced ontogenetic isolation than if they have undergone evolut ionary isolation. Similarly, animals should learn more easily if they have been evolutionarily isolated from some rather than all predators. Training to a novel predator may be more successful ifa species has effective respon ses to similar predators. In contrast, it may be difficult to teach proper avoidance behavior or to introduce specialized predator-specific responses, if appropriate motor patterns are not already present. We conclude that pr e-release training has the potential to enhance the expression of preexisti ng antipredator behavior. Potential training techniques involve classical c onditioning procedures in which animals learn that model predators are pred ictors of aversive events. However wildlife managers should be aware that p roblems, such as the emergence of inappropriate responses, may arise during such training.