Spacing in Animals

Any observantperson has noticed that a wild animal will allow a man or other potential enemyto approach only up to a given distance before it flees.“Flight distance”is the

terms used for thisinterspecies spacing. As a general rule,there is a positive relationshipbetween the size of an ani-mal and its flight distance-the larger theanimal,the greater

the distance it mustkeep between itself and the enemy.An antelope will flee when the enemy is asmuch as five hundred yards a-way .The wall lizard's flight distance,on the

other hand,is aboutsix feet. Flight is the basic means of survival for mobile creatures.

2. Critical distanceapparently is present wherever and whenever there is a flightreaction.“Criti-cal distance”includes the narrow zone separating flightdistance from attack

distance.A lion in azoo will flee from an approaching man until it meets a barrier that it cannotovercome.If the man continues the approach,he soon penetrates the lion's

critical distance,atwhich point the cor-nered lion reverses direction and begins slowly to stalkthe man.

3 .Social animalsneed to stay in touch with each other. Loss of contact with the group can befatal for a variety of reasons including exposure to enemies.Social distance is

not simply the dis-tance at which an animal will lose contact with his group-that is,the distanceat which it can no longer see,hear,or smell the group-it is rather a

psychologicaldistance,one at which the animal apparently begins to feel anxious when heexceeds its limits.We can think of it as a hidden band that contains the group.

4. Social distancevaries from species to species.It is quite short-apparently only a fewyardsamong some animals,and quite long among others.

5. Social distanceis not always rigidly fixed but is determined in part by the situation.When theyoung of apes and humans are mobile but not yet under control of the

mother'svoice,social distance may be the length of her reach.This is readily observedamong the baboons in a zoo.When the baby approaches a certain point,the mother

reaches out to seizethe end of its tail and pull it back to her. When added control is neededbecause of danger,social distance shrinks.To show this in man,one has only to

watch a family witha number of small children holding hands as they cross a busy street.Socialdistance______.

A.differs amonganimal species

B.to psychologicaldistance

C.begin to attack

D.to physiologicaldistance

E.distance betweenan animal and its enemy before fleeing