Repeatability of alert and flight initiation distances in king penguins: Effects of colony, approach speed, and weather

Alert distance (AD) and flight initiation (FID) are popular measures used to explore the reaction of prey approaching predators, thus economics underlying optimal escape strategies. AD likely mirrors effort invested into vigilance, while FID provides an estimate perceived risk threat. Although individual variation in is influenced by environmental factors such as predation pressure human disturbance, repeatabilities these traits (especially AD), therefore their designation personality traits, remain under-investigated. Here, we studied repeatability AD, FID, decision flee a flightless, ground-breeding seabird, king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus). A single experimenter approached three times over consecutive days 47 incubating penguins from two different colonies with varying disturbance levels. We explored effects weather, time day, approach speed on behaviors. Weather had effect all In warm, sunny weather increased. rainy, windy birds were more flee, but waited longer before initiating flight. Faster speeds between increased FID. conditions affected estimates, highlighting need consider external sources when refining estimates. significantly moderately repeatable (r = 0.26 0.57, respectively), was not. There no evidence behavioral habituation or sensitization either colony.