Researchers hunt each other in the Quebec wilderness — for science, of course

Skulking gingerly through the forests of Quebec, his heart racing as he scrambles for scarce resources while trying to avoid nearby predators — it’s all in a day’s work for Université Laval ecologist David Bolduc.

To better understand the complex interactions between nature’s hunters and hunted, Bolduc, his colleagues and a couple dozen of students from around the world gathered in the Éco-Laurentides park near Val-Morin, Que., one summer for a game of predator-prey.

“The rules are pretty simple,” Bolduc told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. “You either die or survive.”

Bolduc is not being literal. The researchers played what amounts to a game of tag, running 30-minute simulations to see if humans would replicate the predator-prey dynamics that play out among wildlife. 

According to their findings, published in the open-source journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution, people are not so different from animals, often drawing on the same survival strategies as, say, wolves or deer. 

Scientists have lauded the experiment as a fun and innovative way to learn about ecosystems, but caution that it comes with limitations — namely, that we can’t use a human game to draw conclusions about animals in the wild, where the stakes really are life and death.

The experiment took place in July 2023. Participants were divided into three groups: prey, which are always hunted, but never hunt; mesopredators, medium-sized animals that hunt smaller prey; and apex predators, which are at the very top of the food chain.

The prey’s job was to find resources, which were scattered in envelopes around the designed play area, “reproduce” by connecting with members of their own team and avoid getting caught by the predators.

The predator’s job, of course, was to catch prey.

“If you have enough food and you don’t get eaten, you survive, that’s considered winning,” Bolduc said.

The researchers billed it as a new method of studying predator–prey interactions, one that’s more grounded in reality than highly-controlled mathematical models, but far easier than field work, in which it is difficult to witness predation in real-time, and even more difficult to control for all the variables at play.

By using the same control group of players while adjusting variables like landscape or resource allocations, scientists can test theories about how predator-prey dynamics might play out in different scenarios. 

Still, the researchers note, any findings would need to be followed by observing real animals in their natural habitat. 

“Let’s say you’re interested in some hypothesis that you would like to test in the wild. It might be good to test it with this game first because you can probably see very interesting things … that you haven’t thought about before,” Bolduc said.

“You can also readily develop the analytical tools that you’ll need once you’ll try it out in the wild.”

Studying how predators and prey behave in the wild — through a game of tag

Scientists who weren’t involved in the research were impressed. 

“I’m almost jealous that I wasn’t part of that because it seems like a lot of fun,” said Mathieu Leblond, an ecologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada who has studied predator-prey relationships.

“It’s just a great idea and an innovative way to study these behaviours.”

Jean-Philippe Gibert, a biologist at North Carolina’s Duke University, agreed. 

“Reading the paper also brought a smile to my face,” he said in an email. “What can I say? It’s fun! Would I go for this as the first tool in my toolbox to understand predator-prey interactions? No. Does it have value? Yes, in the appropriate context.”

The study found that humans in the game behaved similarly to animals in the wild. For example, predators opted to use well-worn paths and roads to scout the terrain for prey, while prey preferred to keep to the shadows. 

But both Leblond and Gibert caution that humans differ in significant ways from wild animals. Each player brings their own biases to the game. Some may be more competitive. Others might want to test the limits of the game itself. The players’ relationships to each other could influence their choices.

“Also there’s no risk of dying, which is a big thing,” Leblond said.  “The predator, sure, he’d like to win, but if he doesn’t capture a prey during the game, he’ll still be able to get home and eat, you know. A predator that doesn’t capture a prey will die.”

The game’s biggest benefit, the researchers say, is as a teaching tool.

“It really sparked really interesting discussions between players about ecological theory and animal behaviour,” Bolduc said. 

“It’s just a really new, interesting and fun way to think about ecological theory and also to learn about it.”