An ounce of prevention: Quantifying the effects of non-lethal tools on wolf behavior

•Prior experience accessing a reward increased motivation to obtain future rewards.•Continued application of prevention measures decreased persistence of behaviors.•Prevention can curb learning in carnivores and reduce conflict. Human-carnivore conflict is presently on the rise as human populations continue to grow and carnivore conservation efforts gain precedence. The behaviors exhibited by carnivores that cause conflict are often learned; therefore, reducing learning potential though the use of non-lethal tools is important for coexistence. In this study we measured how prior experience (i.e., conditioning) influenced the motivation and persistence of captive wolves (Canis lupus) seeking a food reward by quantifying latency to first behavior and duration of behavior for two behavior groups: investigative and work behaviors. Latency to first behavior was faster in conditioned wolves for both investigative (11 times faster; P = 0.0491) and work (4 times faster; P = 0.0112) behaviors, indicating prior experience motivated wolves to overcome neophobic behaviors and facilitated learning to access rewards more quickly. We found little difference in duration for both investigative (P = 0.3194) and work behaviors (P = 0.7016), indicating conditioned and non-conditioned wolves will spend similar amounts of time trying to obtain a reward once a behavior is initiated. When wolves were unable to attain food rewards, we found that the duration of both investigative (P = 0.0631) and work (P = 0.0609) behavior declined over the course of three weeks for both non-conditioned (37.3% and 92.6% decline in investigative behaviors and work behaviors, respectively) and conditioned (59.5% and 88.2% decline in investigative behaviors and work behaviors, respectively) wolves, indicating decreased persistence with the application of a secure prevention measure. Overall, our results indicate that the use of non-lethal tools that prevent animals from attaining anthropogenic food can effectively curb learning in carnivores and help reduce human-carnivore conflict.