User:Mattdrodge/sandbox

Article Evaluation

-Looked at Ethology page

-Article contains items related to topic

-Article seems neutral and fact driven

-Article can be distracting in some points where it links off to other wikipedia articles instead of attempting to explain the topic within the article (see learning section)

-Information seems up to date

-Citation links work properly

-Article has been edited recently, January 2018

-Article rated B-class so can see improvement and editing

-Article part of WikiProject Animals

-Topic seems to be explained similar to in class, however grasping the concept would be easier in a class than reading the article

Improving the article, "Paedophagy":

The article on Paedophagy is considered a stub class article. This article only contains a lead section with very few references. A significant amount of information is missing from this article; there is no in-depth explanation of the behaviour, or species which exhibit paedophagy. There is no history section on paedophagy. There is no section on research in paedophagic behaviour. There is no section on the commonalities in species which exhibit paedophagy. There is no section on further reading in paedophagy. A lot of information needs to be added to this article.

First Draft
Link to original article : Flight Zone

Edited first draft into Final Draft and then added to Flight Zone's webpage:

Flight Zone
Edited this paragraph and added citations: The flight zone of an animal is the area surrounding an animal that if encroached upon by a potential predator or threat, including humans, will cause alarm and escape behavior. The flight zone is determined by the animal's flight distance, sometimes called flight initiation distance (FID) which extends horizontally from the animal and sometimes vertically. It may also be termed escape distance, alert distance, flush distance, and escape flight distance.

Added this:

The flight initiation distance is being used as a tool in wildlife management. By studying flight zones, wildlife managers are able to reduce the impact of humans by creating buffer zones between human populations and animal habitats.

Factors influencing size
-Section unedited - same as original article

Wildlife management
Added this to wildlife management:

The FID in multiple species differs from rural to urban areas. A study by Møller et al. examined 811 FIDs from 37 species of birds and determined that the FID of birds in urban areas is reduced, compared to the FID of birds in rural areas. Urbanization of birds has also been shown to correlate with changes in stress physiology and anti predator behaviour. This may be due to a number of factors differing in rural vs urban areas, such as;  difference in predator communities, length of exposure time to humans, relative abundance of humans, and the presence/abundance of food (bird-feeders in winter for example). Wildlife managers must adjust buffer zones depending on urban/rural environments.

Some physical characteristics are very important to determine an animal’s FID. Eye size and brain size have a role in determining the FID. FID in 107 species of birds was studied in relation to eye size and brain size and was shown that FID increases with larger eyes and decreases with larger brains. Larger eyes mean that predators can be detected from further away and thus the FID would be larger compared to smaller eyes. Larger brains decrease the FID compared to smaller brains, since they can better process the intent of predators and can delay their flight response for as long as possible.

FID can be highly variable, but it can also be viewed as a species-specific trait. A study conducted using eight species of shorebirds at six different sites in Australia was conducted to determine if FID was species specific. It was demonstrated that while both the species and the site influenced the FID, there was no significant interaction between them. This indicates that FID is species-specific, and while sites do influence the FID of a species, the average FID is a good reference for wildlife managers to use when creating buffer zones.

Animal handling
Added this to Animal handling:

The flight zones in cattle vary depending on the situation they are experiencing. Novel situations increase their flight zone, while accustomed stimuli will decrease their flight zone. The flight zone is larger in the front than behind, due to the majority of their senses pointing forward. As the animal becomes more relaxed in a situation or with a person its flight zone will reduce. The cow's prior experiences with humans has also been shown to affect their flight zone. Cow's with positive handling experiences were shown to have smaller flight zones than those with negative handling experiences.

Sample values
-Section unedited - same as original article

Factors affecting escape distances for birds
-Section unedited - same as original article