The spatial behavior of primates is shaped by many factors including predation risk, the distribution of food sources, and access to water. In fire-prone settings, burning is a catalyst of change, altering the distribution of both plants and animals. Recent research has shown that primates alter their behavior in response to this change. Here, we study primates' perceived threat of predation in fire-modified landscapes. We focus on the predator-related behaviors of vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) after controlled burning events. We compare the occurrence of vigilance and predator-deterrent behaviors, including alarm calls, scanning, and flight across different habitats and burn conditions to test the hypothesis that subjects exhibit fewer predator-specific vigilance and predator-deterrent behaviors in burned areas. The results demonstrate that predator-related behaviors occur less often in burned habitats, suggesting that predators are less common in these areas. These results provide foundations for examining hypotheses about the use of fire-altered landscapes among extinct hominins. We set these data in the context of increasing aridity, changes in burning regimes, and the emergence of pyrophilia in the human lineage.

灵长类动物的空间行为受许多因素影响，包括掠食风险，食物来源分布和水的获取。在容易发生火灾的环境中，燃烧是变化的催化剂，改变了动植物的分布。最近的研究表明，灵长类动物会响应这种变化而改变其行为。在这里，我们研究了灵长类动物在经过火焰改造的景观中感知到的捕食威胁。我们关注黑长尾猴（Chlorocebus pygerythrus）与捕食者相关的行为），然后控制燃烧事件。我们比较警惕性和捕食者威慑行为的发生，包括警报呼叫，扫描以及在不同生境和燃烧条件下的飞行，以检验以下假设：受试者在燃烧区域表现出更少的特定于捕食者的警惕性和捕食威慑行为。结果表明，在被烧毁的栖息地中与捕食者相关的行为较少发生，这表明在这些地区捕食者的行为较不常见。这些结果为研究关于灭绝的人类素中使用火变景观的假设提供了基础。我们在不断增加的干旱，燃烧状况的变化以及人类谱系中嗜热菌的出现的背景下设置这些数据。