Tourists? Who cares: A Striking Example of Chamois Habituation in Northern Czechia

Abstract The introduced population of chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) in northern Czechia has declined markedly over the past two decades, yet the drivers remain unclear. The population inhabits an accessible landscape with frequent recreational use. We evaluated whether anthropogenic disturbance influenced chamois vigilance within a human-mediated landscape of fear. Between April and September 2023, we conducted 339.5 hours of direct observations across 48 days in two protected landscape areas. Using scan sampling, we quantified the percentage of vigilant individuals and simultaneously monitored tourist groups passing through the sites and concurrent weather data. We applied model selection based on AIC. Vigilance decreased significantly with increasing herd size (β = –0.26, 95 % CI -0.40, -0,01), consistent with the many-eyes hypothesis and dilution effect. In contrast, tourist presence (LSMEANs ± SE, 95 % CI, Present 8.65±2.42, 3.55, 13.76, Absent 7.60±1.18, 3.55, 13.76) and month (not presented) showed no meaningful influence. Weather variables, offspring presence, and the red deer hunting season did not appear in the two best reported models. Flight responses to hikers were rare. Our results indicate high tolerance to non-consumptive recreation. These findings suggest conservation efforts targeting recreational disturbance may not be warranted and highlight the importance of habituation in recreation ecology.