Do guanacos tolerate visitors in protected areas? Behavioural changes in response to tourists of a guanaco population in the Monte desert

MALO, JE; ACEBES, P; GIANNONI, SM; BORGHI, CE; TRABA, J

Mérida, Yucatán, México

Congreso; 41st. Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology; 2007

International Society for Applied Ethology - UAM

Behavioural changes of large vertebrates due to tourists are a matter of concern for management of Protected Areas as it rises a trade-off: large vertebrates attract visitors, specially when close observation is possible due to animals getting used to people, but induced behavioural changes can reduce animal fitness, increase mortality by poaching or lead to animals hide away from touristic spots. In such context, we analyze the response to tourists shown by the guanaco population of Ischigualasto Provincial Park (San Juan, Argentina), a high conservation priority population thriving in the extreme of aridity occupied by the species. On the one hand, during four fieldwork campaigns in wet- and dry-seasons 2005 and 2006 (N=82 days), the number of guanaco observations by researchers showed differences among campaigns and was significantly smaller the days with larger numbers of tourists entering the park (GLZ-test, p