We tested the human shield hypothesis, which suggests that using areas with human activity reduces risk of being killed by predators. We found that hens who used areas closer to human activity had greater fitness than other hens who used riskier places where predators were more likely to occur. Likewise, we found that hens used these areas with higher human activity during nesting and brooding, when predation risk is highest. Our findings suggest that human activity can create protective shields for hens, and that habitat improvements on public lands in areas where human activity is present, but light, could be helpful to wild turkeys.
