Greater agility increases probability of survival in the endangered northern quoll.

Introduced predators combined with habitat loss and modification are threatening biodiversity worldwide, particularly the 'critical weight range' (CWR) mammals of Australia. In order to mitigate the impacts of invasive predators on native species in different landscapes, we must understand how the prey's morphology and performance determine their survival. Here, we evaluated how phenotypic traits related to escape performance predict the probability of survival for an endangered CWR mammal, the northern quoll ().

Behavioral flexibility of vervet monkeys in response to climatic and social variability.

Responses to environmental variability sheds light on how individuals are able to survive in a particular habitat and provides an indication of the scope and limits of its niche. To understand whether climate has a direct impact on activity, and determine whether vervet monkeys have the behavioral flexibility to respond to environmental change, we examined whether the amount of time spent resting and feeding in the nonmating and mating seasons were predicted by the thermal and energetic constraints of ambient temperature. Our results show that high temperatures during the nonmating season were associated with an increase in time spent resting, at the expense of feeding.