Study Animals
The three Group are the following : the Feral Group, living in the mountains of Riaño, Spain, where wolves and bears are present, the Semi-Feral Group, in Piornal, Spain, with no predators, but regular encounters with hikers and tourists and the Managed Group, in Ossès, France also no predators, and frequent contact with humans, especially the owner
Table 1: Description of the three groups, their environment, the group sizes and composition, the large carnivores present, the contact with humans and the other large mammals present in the area for the three groups.
Experiment
Study A involved filming horse behaviour continuously three times daily (morning, afternoon, evening), with 7.5 hours recorded per group.
Picture of the Feral Group with the camera
Study B tested reactions to the Wolf Sound (predator) and the Control Sound (human voices).
Figure 1: Testing protocol for Study B (Control Sound and Wolf Sound).
Behavioural variables
The observed behaviours included standing alert, standing still, trotting/cantering, lying down, mutual grooming, and gathering, with particular focus placed on vigilance behaviours, trotting/cantering, and gathering, as key indicators of anti-predator responses
Table 2. Ethogram of the behaviours registered, their category (individually or in group), their description and the study referred
Data analysis