“The ways in which species find and detect each other was a primary determinant of the way in which moonlight influenced behavior where those who rely on sight were the most affected, Golden said. “Secondly, taxonomy was a major influence as well perhaps explaining that there are some evolutionary or adaptive roots to the role of moonlight in behavior.”
Thus, primates like lemurs increased their activity on moonlit nights while predator activity and the activity of some prey animals with evolutionary predispositions away from moonlight including rodents, rabbits, and bats fell.
Golden also suggests that human behavior may also have an effect on the predator-prey dynamic through the use of artificial lights during nighttime hours.
“With urbanization ever increasing and city lights pouring out into wild areas, it is possible that these artificial lights are having similar or stronger effects than moonlight on the behavior of organisms,” Golden said.
Golden believes his and Prugh’s study begs scientists to reconsider the popular expectation that predator behavior drives that of prey. He instead suggested that the prey’s reduced activity may reduce the activity of predators due to predators’ reduced ability to hunt successfully when the prey stays hidden.