Researchers outfitted a hundred and twenty-two elk with GPS collars and tracked their movements before and during the hunting season. They found two different personality types. Bold runners who  runners who ran a lot in open range and shy hiders who kept a lower profile. As expected shy hider were more likely to avoid hunters' gunsights and survive. And that effect was the strongest among young elk facing their first hunting season, which suggest some genetic basis for their behavior because the youngsters hadn't yet learned to fear human hunters. Problem is sitting still about a bad tactic for escaping wolves and grizzlies. So human hunters may actually be selecting for traits that make elk more vulnerable to their natural predators. Leaving them stuck between a rock and a hard place. 

 

Thanks for the minute for scientific American sixty seconds science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.