Landscapes, whether physical or perceptive, such as landscapes of fear, play a major role in population dynamics and evolutionary processes. Drawing from empirical insights on the territorial behaviour of wild non-human primates, the landscape of xeno-fear proposes a conceptual framework in which the risk inherent from hostile rivals/neighbours builds a socio-ecological “Umwelt” for the individuals and the groups, influencing behavioural decisions, impacting in-group interactions and ultimately driving behavioural adaptations. This landscape of xeno-fear implies a conscious, recurrent and impactful perception of the risks imposed by strong and potentially lethal inter-group competition. The level of the perceived risk, traded off against other motives, drives behavioural decisions and changes aiming ultimately at minimizing risks. New insights on chimpanzee territorial behaviour demonstrate the materialisation of the landscape of xeno-fear through the use of physical landscape features, such as high ground, to pre-emptively detect hostile neighbours and act in a risk-minimising manner according to the information gathered. Other implications on potential behavioural variations and changes, including the effect of physical landscape heterogeneity on the intensity of inter-group competition can be drawn from this model. Given the selective potential of out-group conflicts on cooperation and cognitive skills in human evolution, the landscape of xeno-fear, cognitively and collectively perceived, could have had important implications in the evolution of hominin species in terms of movements, population dynamics, and ultimately cognitive and cooperative adaptations.  

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