DOI: 10.5061/dryad.9p8cz8wvm
title: Impact of wildlife culling on the behaviour of a highly social herbivore

description: Wildlife culling is used to control overabundant populations of animals,
 particularly herbivores, and can be an effective yet controversial
 management tool. While the ecological outcome of culling has been
 extensively studied, little research has been done on the behavioural
 impacts of culling on the animals remaining in the population. We
 intensively studied multiple populations of eastern grey kangaroos
 (Macropus giganteus) in the weeks immediately before and after an annual
 cull to examine how culling affects the behaviour of remaining animals.
 While the cull reduced overall population numbers by 30-60%, there was
 little impact on group sizes of individual kangaroos within populations, a
 first pass indicator of sociality. The proportion of kangaroos observed
 being vigilant increased by 70% in the weeks following the month-long
 culling event, but there was no discernible change in any other behaviour
 (foraging, resting or reproductive behaviour). In particular, there was no
 increase in stress behaviour after culling. Taken together, the practice
 of culling as a management tool of this iconic, highly social herbivore
 did not impose lasting behavioural changes on surviving kangaroos. Without
 comprehensive behavioural assessments like this being made of wildlife
 management strategies, it is difficult to obtain a clear picture of the
 impacts of such practices on animals remaining in the population. This is
 especially problematic for social species like macropods and other large
 herbivores where changes in population composition could have lasting
 flow-on effects on stress and wellbeing.
description: # Impact of wildlife culling on the behaviour of a highly social herbivore
 Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.9p8cz8wvm](10.5061/dryad.9p8cz8wvm) ##
 Description of the data and file structure This paper reports one of the
 first studies evaluating the behavioural impacts of a conservation cull on
 wild populations of large herbivore, the eastern grey kangaroo. ##
 Description of the data and file structure The file is a csv
 file that can be opened using any text, spreadsheet or statistical
 program. ### Sheet 1: Population This sheet contains data visually
 observed during in-person observation sessions. #### Column Headings
 Cull/control * Whether the site in question was a cull site (i.e. a site
 where culling was conducted in 2023) or a control site (i.e. a site where
 culling was not conducted in 2023). Pre/post * Whether the observation in
 question was taken before or after the 2023 cull. Location * The location
 (site) at which the observation was taken. Date * The date the observation
 was taken. Session * Whether the observation was taken in the morning or
 evening. Max pop * The largest population size recorded during a
 particular observation session. ### Sheet 2: Mobs This sheet contains data
 visually observed during in-person observation sessions. #### Column
 Headings Cull/control * Whether the site in question was a cull site (i.e.
 a site where culling was conducted in 2023) or a control site (i.e. a site
 where culling was not conducted in 2023). Pre/post * Whether the
 observation in question was taken before or after the 2023 cull. Location
 * The location (site) at which the observation was taken. Date * The date
 the observation was taken. Session * Whether the observation was taken in
 the morning or evening. Max pop * The largest population size recorded
 during a particular observation session. Ave mob * The average mob size
 recorded during a particular observation session. Mob * A letter
 representing the mob being counted at a particular time (i.e. mob a, mob b
 etc.) Males * The number of males in a specific mob (e.g. Mob a) counted
 at a particular time. Females-young * The number of females with joeys in
 a specific mob (e.g. Mob a) counted at a particular time. Females-noyoung
 * The number of females without joeys in a specific mob (e.g. Mob a)
 counted at a particular time. Sub-adults * The number of sub-adults in a
 specific mob (e.g. Mob a) counted at a particular time. Young-at-foot *
 The number of young-at-foot (joeys) in a specific mob (e.g. Mob a) counted
 at a particular time. Unknown * The number of unknown kangaroos in a
 specific mob (e.g. Mob a) counted at a particular time. Total * The total
 number of kangaroos in a specific mob (e.g. Mob a) counted at a particular
 time. ### Sheet 3: Scan Sampling This sheet contains data visually
 observed during in-person observation sessions. #### Column Headings
 Pre/post * Whether the observation in question was taken before or after
 the 2023 cull. Cull/control * Whether the site in question was a cull site
 (i.e. a site where culling was conducted in 2023) or a control site (i.e.
 a site where culling was not conducted in 2023). Location * The location
 (site) at which the observation was taken. Date * The date the observation
 was taken. Time * The time at which the observation was taken. Sex * The
 sex of the kangaroos being recorded at a given time (Females- young,
 Females- noyoung, Males, Sub-adults, Young-at-foot, Unknown). Resting *
 The number of kangaroos engaging in resting behaviour at a specific time.
 Relaxed eating * The number of kangaroos engaging in relaxed eating (i.e.
 non-vigilante eating) behaviour at a specific time. Vigilance * The number
 of kangaroos engaging in vigilance behaviour at a specific time. Relaxed
 other * The number of kangaroos engaging in other relaxed (i.e. relaxed,
 non-eating) behaviour at a specific time. Locomotion * The number of
 kangaroos engaging in locomotive behaviour at a specific time. Mating *
 The number of kangaroos engaging in mating behaviour at a specific time.
 Aggression * The number of kangaroos engaging in aggressive behaviour at a
 specific time. ### Sheet 4: Focal Sampling This sheet contains data from
 videos filmed during in-person observation sessions. #### Column Headings
 cd.res file * Digital file name. Sex * The sex of the focal kangaroo being
 recorded. Date * The date the video was recorded. Time * The time the
 video started. Location * The location the video was filmed at. Others
 present * Whether or not there were other kangaroos present in the video.
 Cull/control * Whether the video was filmed at a cull site (i.e. a site
 where culling was conducted in 2023) or a control site (i.e. a site where
 culling was not conducted in 2023). Pre/post * Whether the video in
 question was taken before or after the 2023 cull. Vigilance * The total
 amount of time (in milliseconds) that the focal kangaroo spent engaging in
 vigilance behaviour. Courting * The total amount of time (in milliseconds)
 that the focal kangaroo spent engaging in mating behaviour. Relaxed other
 * The total amount of time (in milliseconds) that the focal kangaroo spent
 engaging in relaxed, non-eating behaviour. Resting * The total amount of
 time (in milliseconds) that the focal kangaroo spent engaging in resting
 behaviour. Locomotion * The total amount of time (in milliseconds) that
 the focal kangaroo spent engaging in locomotive behaviour. Aggression *
 The total amount of time (in milliseconds) that the focal kangaroo spent
 engaging in aggressive behaviour. Stress * The total amount of time (in
 milliseconds) that the focal kangaroo spent engaging in stress behaviour.
 Relaxed eating * The total amount of time (in milliseconds) that the focal
 kangaroo spent engaging in relaxed eating (i.e. non-vigilant eating)
 behaviour. Other * The total amount of time (in milliseconds) that the
 focal kangaroo spent engaging in other behaviors. Total time in sight *
 The total amount of time (in milliseconds) that the kangaroo was in sight
 while being filmed. ## Code/software The file is a csv file that can be
 opened using any text, spreadsheet or statistical program. ## Access
 information Other publicly accessible locations of the data: * NA Data was
 derived from the following sources: * All data was collected by Nora E.
 Campbell