Habitualization is just a big fancy word for creating habits based on stimulation in your environment.
One of the best examples children learn is of a dog who, when he heard a bell would come running because he knew that the bell mean food. Zookeepers do this all the time to get their charges to do simple things that help with veterinary check ups.
Another example from my own life is train horns. I grew up in the same house all my life. This house is situated a little over 20 meters from the closest train tracks. All day and night there are trains coming and going.
This is all down to how my brain works and helps me live my life safely and effectively. Over time, my brain has learned that there is no danger to me from a train when I am at home. Therefore jolting me when the sound of the train comes makes no sense, nor is it necessary to my survival. In contrast, when I am outside of this house, the sound of the train is important to my survival and I am likely to look around to find it before continuing on my way.
All animals, humans included, are geared to find the best food for the least amount of energy. When they find a good,stable and reliable source of food, they stay nearby. They set up house and move in. However, if this great area of food, water, and shelter is near humans that might be a problem.
Birds are especially problematic when they decide that airports are great places to live. While the sound of the engines can cause them to scatter in the beginning, after a while the birds learn to ignore them, like I do train horns. What we know today as bird strikes then start to occur more frequently because the birds fly too close to planes.
Airports (like this one in Oregon) try to manage this by using
lots of techniques to scare off the flying menaces, but they do not
always work all the time. From sound, to uncomfortable vibrations,
even bringing in predators to scare them off if the area looks good
to live – they will always come back. It gets to a point that if
the airport uses the same technique all the time, the birds will just
ignore it.
It sometimes reminds me of humans who live in known natural disaster areas. Like those who decide Florida is a great place to live, even with the hurricanes. Or that nowhere in America can beat California, even if they have earthquakes every day. The one bright spot it seems are those who live in tornado allye, they at least know what they are getting themselves into. Yet, even now there are still people who live in these areas of the country.
You have to know the risks as well as the rewards for living in a particular area.
Wildlife, in general, seems to understand this as well. They know that the risk to their health and survival is there. To try and combat this they will work harder at getting their genes onto the next generation. Consequently that generation is less affected by the noise than the last one because they have been habituated to it from the beginning.
So what can be done? Change the habitat of the area so that it does not present itself to be this golden opportunity for wildlife. Give them a reason not to be there, that they would be better off somewhere else.
It reminds me of what a family friend told me earlier this summer. His aunt always had a perfect garden while her neighbors had deer coming by and eating everything. When she was asked what her secret was, she said simply, “I only get plants that the deer hates.”
NOTE: Robin, a 2013 graduate of Texas A&M Kingsville in range and wildlife sciences, is presently looking for work in urban wildlife policy. Got a Clue for her? Write.
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