2025 Hyper Recent •CC0 1.0 Universal

This work is dedicated to the public domain. No rights reserved.

Access Preprint From Server
May 8th, 2025
Version: 2
University of Hull
animal behavior and cognition
biorxiv

Experiencing the wild: Red fox encounters are related to stronger nature connectedness, not anxiety, in people

Morton, B.Open in Google Scholar•Soulsbury, C. D.Open in Google Scholar

Global declines in biodiversity and human health are linked to declining human-nature connectedness, i.e., people's subjective sense of their relationship with nature. Frequent, positive wildlife experiences can strengthen nature connectedness, improving public health and pro-environmental behaviours to protect biodiversity. Red foxes are the most widespread terrestrial carnivore on the planet. Urbanisation is associated with bolder fox behaviour and reduced public tolerance of foxes due to human-fox conflict. It remains unclear how interactions with foxes might influence (positively or negatively) nature connectedness and health in people, such as general anxiety. We surveyed 230 people using an online questionnaire. Nature connectedness was lower in urban areas and positively related to the perceived frequency and quality of fox encounters. Frequent, positive experiences were related to better attitudes and tolerance towards foxes, but unrelated to general anxiety. Management of human-fox coexistence should consider the potential role of foxes in shaping people's broader nature connectedness.

Similar Papers

biorxiv
Fri May 09 2025
The swarming behaviors of Vorticella
Two Vorticella species undergo a synchronous transition from sessile zooids to motile telotrochs, which swarm enveloped in secreted mucus, subsequently forming dense aggregations on substrates and reverting to the zooid form. This cyclical process recurs on a daily basis. Each species exhibits a unique mode of swarming behavior. We hypothesize that these behaviors may serve to facilitate efficient...
Tabata, T.
•
Maeyama, Y.
biorxiv
Fri May 09 2025
Charitability, Compulsion, & the Cost of Control
Human decision-makers have a well-established preference for free choice. We used a hierarchical gambling task to assess whether this preference extends to environments in which decision outcomes benefit others, specifically charitable organizations. In neurotypical individuals (n=100), we found a reduction in the preference for free choice across self- and charity-benefiting environments when fre...
Arroyo, L.
•
Liljeholm, M.
biorxiv
Thu May 08 2025
Adaptive Asymmetric Adjustment in Affective Evaluation and Reciprocity for Altruistic Behaviors from Exogenous Uncertainty to Certainty
Direct reciprocity requires the beneficiary\'s real-time evaluation of others\' altruistic behaviors under exogenous uncertainty, i.e., environmentally imposed uncertainty that can be resolved upon the disclosure of outcomes (e.g., uncertainty in others\' cost to rescue oneself in a natural disaster). However, the neurocognitive mechanisms underpinning this dynamic adjustment to exogenous uncertai...
Liu, X.
•
Liao, R.
•
Nan, Y.
•
Fang, Y.
...•
Gao, X.
biorxiv
Thu May 08 2025
Female sexual agency and frequent extra-pair copulations, but no extra-pair paternity, in Nazca boobies (Sula granti)
Extra-pair copulations (EPCs) are the poorly known antecedents of extra-pair fertilizations (EPFs) in birds. EPFs occur in most bird species that have been examined, but sexual conflict will generally reward females hiding their EPCs from males attempting to protect their paternity. EPCs will be difficult for researchers to document, and necessarily underestimated, in that case. We measured EPC be...
Anderson, D. J.
•
Huyvaert, K. P.
•
Espinosa, P. M.
•
Westbrock, M. A.
...•
Schneider, E. G.
biorxiv
Thu May 08 2025
Respiratory synchrony and individual differences causally influence dyadic interpersonal coordination
Human interpersonal coordination can yield synchronization at multiple timescales, including behavioral (auditory-motor) and physiological (respiratory and cardiac) levels; yet the causal relationship among these levels is poorly understood. By comparing dyadic melody perception and production, we demonstrate that physiological synchrony is not merely a byproduct of shared perception, as it increa...
YI, W.
•
Palmer, C.
biorxiv
Thu May 08 2025
Observation of tandem running behavior in mating pairs of Asian dampwood termite, Hodotermopsis sjostedti
As a social insect, termite colonies can grow to a group of millions of individuals, yet all colonies start from a single mating pair. Recent studies indicate that the pair formation process shows a large diversity among species, especially in basal lineages. Thus, comparative information is integral to estimating the ancestral state of this essential stage of the termite life cycle. The Asian dam...
Mizumoto, N.
•
Chambliss, W.
•
Carroll, E.
•
Nakazono, T.
•
Kanao, T.
biorxiv
Thu May 08 2025
Abstinence from Substance Use & The Value of Control
Clinical criteria for substance-use disorder collectively specify a loss of instrumental control over consumption, yet little empirical work has addressed how substance use shapes the utility of agency in motivated behavior. We combined a hierarchical gambling task with cross-sectional substance-use surveys and computational cognitive modeling, to assess the preference for controllable environment...
Giovanni, E. M.
•
Liljeholm, M.
biorxiv
Thu May 08 2025
Male mice prefer to live on their own
Around the world, guidance for the management of laboratory mice recommends social housing (1-3). However, fighting in male mice represents a major animal welfare and scientific issue. Despite the risks of stress and injury and associated welfare costs of in-cage aggression, we currently prioritise group housing. In this study we first validated a trans-species behavioural biomarker of affective s...
Davies, J.
•
Jackson, M. G.
•
Hinchcliffe, J. K.
•
Mendl, M.
•
Robinson, E. S. J.
biorxiv
Thu May 08 2025
How monitoring behavior can inform conservation? The case of Spix's macaws under human care
The Spix\'s macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii), a Brazilian endemic psittacine formerly native to the north-eastern part of Bahia state has been classified as extinct in the wild since 2019. The entire ex-situ breeding population is currently managed by program-associated holders in Germany, Brazil and Belgium. Breeding efforts increased the global population under human care from a historical low of 53 i...
Marcuk, V.
•
Purchase, C.
•
Scholtyssek, K.
•
Amador, J.
...•
Courtiol, A.