As an increasing number of wildlife are colonizing urban areas, how to control human-wildlife interactions has been a pivotal challenge in wildlife management and urban planning alike. Close human-wildlife proximity and associated behaviors such as flight initiation distance (FID; the distance at which animals initiate escape from approaching humans) is one of many important ecological elements underlying direct human-wildlife interaction. However, how habitat features in urban areas affect human-wildlife distance is still virtually unknown. Understanding the key factors of urban habitats that influence flight distance would provide important insights for improving both wildlife and park management. Using the Eurasian red squirrel, Sciurus vulgaris, we examined how urban green park characteristics influence variation of two flight distances: FID and vertical escape distance (VED; the height at which target animals stop climbing in the tree after escape) among parks. We found that park features such as the intensity of artificial feeding, the proportion of green space, tree density, and the density of recreational equipment influenced FID and VED. Particularly, high feeding intensity decreased FID and VED, while high green space, high tree density, and high density of recreational equipment increased FID and VED. Our results suggest that manipulating environmental characteristics is an effective method to control human-wildlife interactions, which could be implemented in park management.

随着越来越多的野生动植物在城市地区定居，如何控制人与野生生物的互动一直是野生动植物管理和城市规划中的关键挑战。人类与野生生物之间的亲密关系和相关行为，例如飞行起始距离（FID；动物开始向接近的人类逃逸的距离），是人类与野生动物直接互动的许多重要生态要素之一。但是，城市地区的栖息地特征如何影响人类与野生动物之间的距离仍然是未知的。了解影响飞行距离的城市栖息地的关键因素将为改善野生动植物和公园管理提供重要见解。使用欧亚红松鼠寻常型，我们研究了城市绿色公园的特征如何影响公园之间两个飞行距离的变化：FID和垂直逃生距离（VED；逃生后目标动物在树上停止爬升的高度）。我们发现人工饲养强度，绿地比例，树木密度和休闲设备密度等公园特征会影响FID和VED。特别地，高进食强度降低了FID和VED，而高绿地，高树密度和娱乐设备的高密度则增加了FID和VED。我们的结果表明，控制环境特征是控制人与野生生物相互作用的有效方法，可以在公园管理中实施。