Flash Behaviour Does Not Help Rabbits Evade Human Predators

ABSTRACT

A number of otherwise cryptic species have areas on their body of conspicuous colour that are hidden while stationary but displayed when moving. A suggested function of this conspicuous colouration is for flash behaviour, in which an otherwise cryptic prey exposes obvious colours during escape to disrupt the predators' ability to locate the prey when it stops moving and hides the colour. Experimental studies of artificial prey with human and avian predators have found that flash behaviour can increase ‘prey’ survival, but this has not been comprehensively tested using real prey. European rabbits ( Oryctolagus cuniculus ) display their white tail when running but are otherwise cryptic when resting or foraging. We experimentally tested whether flash behaviour inhibits detection by presenting videos of wild rabbits fleeing to human participants and manipulated the tail colour of the rabbits. We found that rabbits with unmanipulated white tails were neither more likely nor faster to be located than rabbits with tails digitally manipulated to be cryptic. This does not support the hypothesis that flash behaviour helps rabbits evade predators.