Abstract
The ability to estimate abundances of multiple wildlife species within an area is valuable for both conservation and ecological inquiry. Spatially explicit capture–recapture (SCR) methods are commonly used to obtain reliable population size estimates, particularly for low-density and individually identifiable carnivore species. However, estimating abundance within multi-species communities poses a methodological challenge as survey designs and analytical tools are primarily tailored for single target species. Here, we present a dataset of spatially referenced individual encounter histories of six carnivore species with varying space requirements (lion, Panthera leo; leopard, Panthera pardus; spotted hyena, Crocuta crocuta; cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus; serval, Leptailurus serval; large-spotted genet, Genetta tigrina). These data were collected in a South African game reserve using a camera trap array optimized for multi-species density estimation using SCR methods. This dataset will be a valuable resource for studying spatial processes among potentially interacting carnivores without the common pitfalls that come with by-catch data of non-target species, and will provide a much-needed case study for the further development of multi-species statistical method development.
Acknowledgements
We thank the Munywana Conservancy for allowing us to conduct this research, particularly C. Sholto-Douglas for support in implementing this monitoring framework, and M. van Wieringen, and S. Sithole for assistance in fieldwork. This work was supported by the Munywana Conservancy Conservation Fund (MCCF). G.C.-S. was funded by Fundacão para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) in the frame of Individual Call to Scientific Employment Stimulus program [2023.08961.CEECIND/CP2845/CT0007]. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. The authors declare no competing interests.
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Gigliotti, L.C., Dupont, G., Sutherland, C. et al. Individual encounter data of six African carnivore species optimized for multi-species density estimation.
Sci Data (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-026-07332-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-026-07332-x
Source: Ecology - nature.com
