DOI: 10.5061/dryad.sqv9s4ndg
title: Perceived predation risk affects mammal behavior at Amazonian mineral licks

description: Mineral licks are critical resources for herbivores in Amazonia and other
 tropical regions which may be deficient in dietary minerals or consuming
 alkaloid-laced leaves which may cause gastrointestinal issues. However,
 mineral licks are also important locations for predators, including human
 hunters. Animals visiting mineral licks must balance the benefits of
 relief of physiological stressors with the risk of predation, and they may
 employ behavioral adaptations to do so. We used camera trap data on six
 large-bodied mammal species at 52 mineral licks in the same watershed in
 the Peruvian Amazon to assess how mineral licks contribute to visiting
 species’ perception of risk. We tested the effects of a range of
 covariates including direct and indirect measures of risk, habitat
 characteristics, and soil properties on visit duration, a behavioral
 adaptation species may use to mitigate risk, in a generalized linear
 mixed-effects modeling framework. Tapirs, collared peccaries, and paca
 minimized visit duration in risky licks, while howler monkeys, red brocket
 deer, and black agoutis had higher visit duration in risky licks,
 potentially due to increased vigilance and reduced feeding efficiency. The
 strong relationships between risk and behavior across species demonstrates
 the ecological value of mineral licks for both predators and prey, as prey
 must seek mineral licks but at great cost. Conserving mineral licks in
 landscapes may be a critical component to the conservation of both
 herbivores and carnivores in Amazonia, and for food security of local
 people.
description: # Perceived predation risk affects mammal behavior at Amazonian mineral
 licks
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sqv9s4ndg](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sqv9s4ndg) ## Description of the data and file structure This data was collected using camera trapping and soil sampling at mineral licks in the Sucusari River basin in the Peruvian Amazon, northeast of city of Iquitos in the Loreto Department. Camera trapping was conducted at 52 mineral licks on a rotation for about one year. Soil samples were collected at these same mineral licks and analyzed for their soil content.  Full methods of soil sampling can be found here: Griffiths, B. M., Jin, Y., Griffiths, L. G., & Gilmore, M. P. (2023). Physical, landscape, and chemical properties of Amazonian interior forest mineral licks. *Environmental Geochemistry and Health*, *45*(6), 3263–3276. Full methods of camera trapping can be found in the associated manuscript, or here: Griffiths, B. M., Hansbrough, G., Griffiths, L. G., Valderrama, D., & Gilmore, M. P. (2024). Drivers of geophagy of large-bodied amazonian herbivorous and frugivorous mammals. *Scientific Reports*, *14*(1), 1–10. ### Files and variables #### File: Vigilance\_Data.csv **Description:** All data needed to assess vigilance at mineral licks. ##### Variables * Lick: Name of the mineral lick * Survey: Camera trapping rotation the lick was trapped for for that sample * Species: Species recorded in this visitation event * DateTime: Date and time of the visitation event * Individuals: Number of individuals present of the species in the visitation event * VisitDate: Date of the visitation event, extracted from DateTime * Longitude: Longitude of the lick, decimal degrees * Latitude: Latitude of the lick, decimal degrees * Elevation: Elevation extracted from DEM, m * Slope: Slope extracted from DEM, degrees * Rough: Surface roughness extracted from DEM, m * Wetlands: 0/1 whether the lick is located in a wetland * DistAcc: Distance from the closest major hunting access point, km * DistComm: Distance from the community, km * LickSize: Estimate of lick area, sq. m * NumKillsInArea: Density of kills in the raster cell, # killed in 1 sq km around lick * B: Soluble B concentration of consumed soil at mineral lick, ppm * Ca.Exch: Exchangeable Ca concentration of consumed soil at mineral lick, meq/100g dry soil * P.Free: Free P concentration of consumed soil at mineral lick, ppm * K.Exch: Exchangeable K concentration of consumed soil at mineral lick, meq/100g dry soil * N: Total N concentration of consumed soil at mineral lick, % * Al: Exchangeable Al concentration of consumed soil at mineral lick, meq/100g dry soil * Cu: Cu concentration of consumed soil at mineral lick, ppm * Fe: Fe concentration of consumed soil at mineral lick, ppm * Mn: Mn concentration of consumed soil at mineral lick, ppm * Zn: Zn concentration of consumed soil at mineral lick, ppm * Clay: Clay fraction of consumed soil at mineral lick, %  * Na.Exch: Exchangeable Na concentration of consumed soil at mineral lick, meq/100g dry soil * pH: pH of consumed soil at mineral lick, ppm * Mg.Exch: Exchangeable Mg concentration of consumed soil at mineral lick, meq/100g dry soil * DurationMin: Duration of visit, min * Month: Month of the visit, extracted from VisitDate * MoonBright: Brightness of the moon during visit, % of full * DurationMinInteger: Duration of visit, min (integer) ## Code/software None ## Access information Other publicly accessible locations of the data: * Soil data:  [https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/9vpzd6rmrn/2](https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/9vpzd6rmrn/2 "https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/9vpzd6rmrn/2") * Mammal data: [https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.bcc2fqzb2](https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.bcc2fqzb2 "https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.bcc2fqzb2")