Translocations and Reintroductions
Some management actions involve human-aided displacements of animals,
either from captivity (reintroductions) or from other wild populations
(translocations). Tracking the animals released in such manipulations
can provide unique opportunities to understand how the animals adapt to
their new environments
(Heet al. 2019). For example, recurring short displacements (such as
when animals are repeatedly taken to the same sampling station for
physiological samples), can be used to assess how quickly the animal
learns the return route to its home range (Biro et al . 2007).
Translocations of animals into existing populations can aid
understanding of learning when movement behaviors of individuals new to
the environment can be compared to those of already-resident
individuals. For example, quantifying the rate of convergence of
movement metrics between new arrivals and residents could help estimate
learning rates. In addition, if translocated animals are sourced from
areas that differ in predation risk (or other factors) but released in a
common space, comparison of the survival and movement patterns could be
useful to understanding how previous experience shapes learning
(Frairet al. 2007). Translocations of social animals may also create
opportunities for newly arrived individuals to learn from resident
conspecifics
(Dolevet al. 2002).
Overall, tracking the movements of animals in novel environments over
years or even generations in comparison to historical populations can
reveal the importance of learning and cultural transmission and identify
the rate at which animals gain knowledge of their environment. For
example, Jesmer et al . (2018) found that it took multiple decades
for translocated bighorn sheep and moose to regain the capacity to
identify and follow the optimal forage gradients that existed in their
landscapes as they migrated. Likewise, tracking the movement of prey
species before and after the introduction of predators into a landscape
affords unique opportunities for investigating how animals learn to
avoid predators
(Fordet al . 2015).