Effectiveness of the eastern grey kangaroo foot thump for deterring conspecifics

Abstract

Overabundant wild populations of herbivores often present challenges to primary industry, competing with stock, and damaging crops and property. Eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus) are one of seven macropodid species that are considered a problem in agriculture in Australia. Most deterrent devices available commercially use sounds that do not occur in nature (i.e. artificial sounds), which often have a short-lived or no effect on the target species, whereas trials with biologically significant sounds are often more effective and provide greater resistance to habituation. I used a playback trial of an eastern grey kangaroo foot thump, a biologically significant signal that is given in..