Disturbance and predation risk influence vigilance synchrony of Black-necked Cranes Grus nigricollis, but not as strongly as expected

Animals monitor surrounding dangers independently or cooperatively (synchronized and coordinated vigilance), with independent and synchronized scanning being prevalent. Coordinated vigilance, including unique sentinel behaviour, is rare in nature, since it is time-consuming and limited in terms of benefits. No evidence showed animals adopt alternative vigilance strategies during antipredation scanning yet. Considering the non-independent nature of both synchronization and coordination, we assessed whether group members could keep alert synchronously or in a coordinated fashion under different circumstance. We studied how human behaviour and species-specific variables impacted individual and collective vigilance of globally threatened black-necked cranes (Grus nigricollis) and explored behaviour-based wildlife management. We tested both predation risk (number of juveniles in group) and human disturbance (level and distance) effects on individual and collective antipredation vigilance of ...