Early avoidance of human-dominated landscapes by juvenile Alpine golden eagles
Louise Faure, Yanni Gunnell, Hester Brønnvik, Enrico Bassi, Martin U. Grüebler, David Jenny, Petra Sumasgutner, Martin C. Wikelski, Kamran Safi, Elham Nourani
The paper investigates whether juvenile Alpine golden eagles avoid human-dominated landscapes due to innate behavior, learning during dispersal, or pre-dispersal imprinting, finding that imprinting on natal habitat features explains the avoidance behavior.
bioRxiv · Feb 2, 2026 · PreprintAnimal Behavior & Cognition