Research overview: apex felid restoration and prey behavior recovery

A survey of how restoring large cats to systems where they were lost can rekindle anti-predator behavior in prey and reinstate top-down effects. Where prey have lived without predators, they may become bold and overabundant; the return or reintroduction of pumas, lions or tigers can restore vigilance, habitat shifts and wariness, potentially re-establishing landscapes of fear and trophic cascades. This survey synthesizes evidence on how quickly and completely prey behavior recovers, the role of learning versus evolved responses, and cases from reintroductions and natural recolonizations. It connects restoration ecology to predator-prey behavioral dynamics and to debates over rewilding. The topic addresses whether the ecological functions of apex felids, especially their behavioral effects on prey, can be recovered by bringing the predators back.