DOI: 10.5061/dryad.3j9kd51sq
title: Data from: Coyotes display minimal response to Cougar scent at experimental carcass sites

description: Interactions among predators can have cascading impacts on communities and
 ecosystems. These interactions often occur around carrion, where the
 carrion provides a food reward, but also a risk of encountering other,
 potentially dominant, predators. Understanding how predators balance risk
 and reward at carrion, and how perceived risk changes in response to
 carcass origins and conditions, provides valuable insight into intraguild
 interactions. We investigated Coyote (Canis latrans) behavior at carrion
 simulated as cache sites treated with Cougar (Puma concolor) scent versus
 carrion used as control sites to better understand how Coyotes assess risk
 while feeding on carrion. Coyotes displayed similar behavior between sites
 treated and untreated with Cougar scent, suggesting that the presence of
 Cougar scent did not alter perceived risk by coyotes in our study.
 Instead, coyote behavior responded to carcass age, elevation, and whether
 avian scavengers had visited the carcass. Coyotes spent more time feeding,
 more time on camera, and touched carcasses quicker as carcass age
 increased. Avian scavengers appeared to compete with Coyotes, and while
 the presence of avian scavengers reduced time to carcass detection by
 Coyotes, it also decreased time spent feeding. These results suggest that
 carcass condition is a more important indicator of risk and reward than
 the presence of dominant predator scent to Coyotes. Predator scent may be
 an unreliable cue of immediate predator presence. Alternatively, all
 carcasses may be risky because dominant predators also scavenge carrion,
 creating similar risk regardless of previous visitation by dominant
 predators. These results provide insights into predator interactions and
 can also inform the use of scent cues in wildlife management.
description: This data set contains information of coyote visits to simulated
 cougar cache sites. We collected these data using wildlife cameras
 deployed at cache sites which recorded videos when triggered by motion in
 front of the camera. We processed the videos to extract behavioral data on
 coyotes.
description: ## ReadMe Metadata for manuscript on coyote scavenging experiment prepared
 by Mitchell Parsons and Julie Young. This metadata file describes the data
 for a manuscript prepared by Mitchell Parsons and Julie Young
 investigating behavior of coyotes scavenging at simulated cougar cache
 sites. We deployed road killed deer as simulated cougar kills and treated
 half of sites with cougar scent. We observed coyote behavior using remote
 cameras. We then analyzed data to understand whether coyote behavior (e.g.
 time to discovery, time to touch, time spent vigilant), varied based on
 the addition of cougar scent or other environmental factors. This resource
 This manuscript has been accepted for publication by the Journal of
 Mammalogy in April 2024. ### DATAFILES ##### SimCacheSites.csv This file
 contains information for each of the 37 simulated cache sites used in this
 study including dates deployed, locations, and some summary information
 related to visits by coyotes and other scavengers. Each row represents a
 single cache site. *Columns* 1. SiteID: the ID of the simulated cache site
 2. DateInstalled: the date the cache site and camera were deployed on the
 landscape in MDY format. 3. DateRecov: the date the camera was removed
 from this location in MDY format. 4. Easting: the UTM easting coordinate
 of the cache site. All coordinates in WGS84 UTM zone 10N 5. Northing: the
 UTM northing coordinate of the cache site. All coordinates in WGS84 UTM
 zone 10N 6. Elev: the elevation of the cache site, in meters. 7. Pair:
 identifies which pair of cache sites, one treated and one untreated, this
 cache site was a member of. 8. Treatment: whether this cache site received
 the treatment of cougar urine and gland (1) or not (0). 9. NumCoyVideos:
 The number of videos of coyotes at this cache site. 10. NumCoy Hits: The
 number of independent coyote visits to this cache site. Individual visits
 can lead to multiple videos. 11. Lion: Whether or not a mountain lion
 visited this cache site. 12. LionDate: The date of the mountain lion visit
 in MDY H:M format. 13. Bobcat: Whether or not a bobcat visited this cache
 site. 14. BobcatDate: The date of the bobcat visit in MDY H:M format. 15.
 Fox: Whether or not a fox visited this cache site. 16. SpottedSkunk:
 Whether or not a spotted skunk visited this cache site. 17. SkunkDate: The
 date of the skunk visit in MDY H:M format. 18. AvianDate: The date of
 avian scavengers visiting the cache site in MDY H:M format. NAs for
 LionDate, BobcatDate, SkunkDate, and AvianDate indicate where no visit was
 recorded and thus there is no date to report NAs for Bobcat indicate that
 we did not collect data on whether a bobcat was observed at the site.
 ##### CacheSite\_EventData.csv This file contains the behavior coding data
 for coyote visits to cache sites. Each row of the dataframe contains an
 individual behavioral bout and the information associated with that
 behavior and the cache site it occurred at. *Columns* 1. Cache: The cache
 site the observation occurred at 2. Observation: A unique identifier for
 independent observations of coyotes at cache sites. Independent
 observations were defined as those that occurred &gt;60 minutes after
 previous coyote visits. 3. Media.file: The name of the video file that the
 behavior occurred in. 4. Total.media.length: The total duration of the
 video file the behavior occurred in (secons). 5. Date: The date and time
 the video file began in MDY H:M format. 6. Night: Whether or not the
 observation occurred at night. 7. OtherAnimals: Whether other animals were
 present during the observation. 8. Subject: The ID of the individual
 coyote observed in the video. 9. Behavior: What behavior is being
 displayed by the coyote at this time. Refer to table 1 in the manuscript
 for definition of behaviors. 10. Modifiers: Whether or not “smell”
 behavior was associated with feeding or with investigating competitor
 scent. 11. Behavior.type: Whether the observed behavior was a point
 behavior (i.e., no time passed) or a state behavior (i.e., a behavioral
 state the individual maintained for some time). 12. Start: The time in the
 video file when the behavior began (seconds). 13. Stop: The time in the
 video file when the behavior ended (seconds). This value is 0 for all
 point behaviors as these behaviors were not associated with elapsed time.
 14. Comment.start: NA 15. Comment.stop: NA 16. Snowing: Whether or not it
 was actively snowing when the observation occurred (1,0). 17.
 DateInstalled: the date the cache site and camera were deployed on the
 landscape in MDY format. 18. DateRecov: the date the camera was removed
 from this location in MDY format. 19. Easting: the UTM easting coordinate
 of the cache site. All coordinates in WGS84 UTM zone 10N 20. Northing: the
 UTM northing coordinate of the cache site. All coordinates in WGS84 UTM
 zone 10N 21. Pair: identifies which pair of cache sites, one treated and
 one untreated, this cache site was a member of. 22. Treatment: whether
 this cache site received the treatment of cougar urine and gland (1) or
 not (0). 23. NumCoyVideos: The number of videos of coyotes at this cache
 site. 24. NumCoy Hits: The number of independent coyote visits to this
 cache site. Individual visits can lead to multiple videos. 25. Lion:
 Whether or not a mountain lion visited this cache site. 26. LionDate: The
 date of the mountain lion visit in MDY H:M format. 27. Bobcat: Whether or
 not a bobcat visited this cache site. 28. BobcatDate: The date of the
 bobcat visit in MDY H:M format. 29. Fox: Whether or not a fox visited this
 cache site. 30. SpottedSkunk: Whether or not a spotted skunk visited this
 cache site. 31. SkunkDate: The date of the skunk visit in MDY H:M format.
 32. AvianDate: The date of avian scavengers visiting the cache site in MDY
 H:M format. NAs for LionDate, BobcatDate, SkunkDate, and AvianDate
 indicate where no visit was recorded and thus there is no date to report
 NAs for Bobcat indicate that we did not collect data on whether a bobcat
 was observed at the site. ### CODE FILES #####
 ParsonsandYoung\_CoyoteScavengingExperiment\_Code.r This file contains all
 code necessary to format data, conduct analyses, and create the visuals
 (except for figure 1) presented in the associated manuscript. The code
 file loads packages at the beginning, but the associated packages will
 need to be installed. As written, the code will save all figures as
 separate files in the working directory. The general workflow is as
 follows: 1. Load packages. 2. Conduct initial data formatting. 3. Analyze
 time of discovery data. 4. Analyze total time on camera data. 5. Analyze
 time to first touch data. 6. Analyze vigilance behavior data. 7. Analyze
 feeding behavior data. 8. Create plots for the above analyses. 9. Analyze
 temporal patterns of visits. 10. Create plots for temporal patterns of
 visits.