Effect of Group Size on the Startle Response of Geese in the Lake Wingra Watershed
Angela Traut, Jenna Ryan, and Katrina Stevenson
As many of us already are aware, an increased population of urban geese causes many problems. This includes large amounts of feces resulting in damage to turf and soil and adds to the spread of diseases to other animals. Geese are also known for occasionally attacking humans. Urban geese are becoming more familiar with humans and it is becoming more difficult to get rid of them. We studied how the group size of geese affects how they react to humans.
All of our research was conducted in Vilas Park. We observed the first set of geese we came upon, and then all other sets of geese in the park except the geese in the water. For each observation we had one person walk at a steady pace towards the group of geese. That same person dropped a set of keys as a marker of when the geese noticed her. When the geese became aware of her, some walked away and some even responded in various noises. We used a tape measure to accurately attain and record the distances from both responses.
The geese we observed were present in zones 2, 3, 6, 7, and 8 of Vilas Park (refer to map located below). There were three distinct group sizes we saw: 1 - 100, 100 - 300, and 300 – 500 geese. Our focus was mainly on the first two groups because there were more groups that traveled in that size. The larger groups reacted much quicker than the smaller groups to the presence of human than smaller groups of geese.
In conclusion, we learned that geese that travel together in groups of 100 - 300
responded quicker to human presence than groups of 100 or smaller. In larger
groups there are more geese to notice that humans are approaching and that is
why they responded quicker. Throughout the process, we noticed some potential
sources of error. For example, counting how many geese were in the groups was
difficult to be accurate. At times there were more than 500 geese and it was
very easy to miss some geese or count them more than once.
Zones in Vilas Park
Correlation Between Group Size and Distances of Responses
