The Landscape of Fear

While recently researching a book on hunting and the relationship between predator and prey, I came across a concept known as ‘The Landscape of fear.’

The idea behind it is that the feeding patterns of prey animals are partly dictated by the predators that surround them. ‘Owl’ squeaks a mouse, staying low in the grass. ‘Human’ breathes a roe deer as it leaps between the trees. ‘Hawk’ alarms the jay disappearing into the hedge. Every day might be their last and every meal is a watchful affair.

This does not mean that prey animals live in a state of constant fear. Herds of zebra live in close proximity to lions and hyenas in the Serengeti, just as deer live in the same territory as wolves in parts of the Northern hemisphere. What the idea pertains to is the way in which the presence of a predator keeps its prey on their toes, so to speak. Living with death as an ever-present reality seasons the way prey creatures move, eat and sleep. They watch their fellow animals with an alertness that keeps the relationship between predator and prey taut.

In this current climate of quarantine and lockdown, it is interesting to observe where we have got to as humans in this dance between predator and prey. For many years we have been the apex predator across most of the world. By hunting, exterminating or fencing the animals that threaten our lives or simply cause…