Flight Initiation Distance Varies With Proximity to Humans and Feeding Opportunity in Rock Hyraxes, Procavia capensis

Urban wildlife must persist in close proximity to humans. A reduced flight initiation distance (FID) is a widely reported behavioural correlate of this exposure. FID is lower in rock hyraxes ( Procavia capensis ) near permanent human settlements than in undisturbed populations in a national park landscape, but whether similar variation exists at finer spatial scales within a single suburban site has not been tested. We measured FID in three hyrax colonies differing in distance from human dwellings at Meyersdal Eco Estate, Johannesburg, South Africa, with and without food present, in the warm and cool months. Inter‐colony distances (1.8–2.1 km) exceeded the typical hyrax home‐range size and reported dispersal distances, supporting the treatment of the colonies as independent sampling units. Colony and food treatment each accounted for a similar proportion of variance in FID ( η 2 = 0.148 and 0.150 respectively), with no evidence that the effect of food differed among colonies. The colony furthest from human dwellings had longer FID than the two closer colonies, which did not differ from each other, indicating a threshold rather than a continuous relationship with distance. The presence of food reduced FID consistently across colonies, but season had no effect. These patterns are consistent with reduced escape responses at closer proximity to humans and with feeding motivation acting as an independent, similarly weighted influence on escape decisions. However, the single colony per distance design means that the colony effect cannot be separated from other between‐colony differences. The results indicate to a multi‐factor view of urban antipredator behaviour in which exposure to people and immediate behavioural context both influence flight initiation decisions.