Abstract
Understanding animals’ use of space can shed valuable light on multiple other aspects of behavioral ecology, including social organization, dispersal, and foraging efficiency. Home ranges, territories, core areas, and home range overlaps have been widely studied, but unless animals are directly observed or are tracked remotely on a fine temporal scale, how they actually use the space available to them and how they share (or partition) this space with a community of conspecifics over time cannot be fully understood. Using GPS technology, we tracked three adjacent groups of vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) in Laikipia, Kenya, for 1 year to better understand the processes involved in territoriality and home range overlaps. Home ranges overlapped with any one neighboring group by 12.7–34.7%, but intergroup encounters only occurred in restricted areas within these zones, which defined territorial boundaries. The resources closest to the territorial boundaries were nocturnal core areas with preferred sleeping sites adjacent to short-grass areas offering fewer hiding places for ambush predators and greater visibility for predator detection. Home range overlaps were not neutral zones, the result of shifting home range boundaries over time, or based on intergroup encounters at boundaries, but resulted when groups made incursions beyond their territorial boundaries while the neighbor was far away and likely unaware of the intruders. Thus, territories can be non-exclusive but may still be perceived by the animals themselves as sole-owned, as neighbors only intrude when territory owners are absent from that area.
Significance statement
How animals use their space is a perennial focus in behavioral ecology because space use influences nearly everything else in animals’ lives. While tracking has long been used to investigate space use, particularly for nocturnal animals, only direct observation or tracking on a fine scale can reveal the processes involved in the creation or maintenance of home ranges and territories and that cause home range overlaps to persist. We remotely tracked three adjacent groups of vervet monkeys on a fine temporal scale for 1 year. Despite behaving territorially, vervet home ranges overlapped well beyond territorial boundaries because neighbors were “absentee owners,” unable to prevent incursions when they were not nearby. Our findings suggest that exclusivity of use in the definition of territoriality may be too strict; animals may behave as if they are exclusive owners even if neighbors’ use of space does not reflect it.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The data used for this study are available at Movebank.org or from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
References
Arseneau-Robar TJM, Taucher AL, Müller E, van Schaik C, Bshary R, Willems EP (2016) Female monkeys use both the carrot and the stick to promote male participation in intergroup fights. Proc R Soc B 283:20161817
Asencio N, José-Domínguez JM, Dunn JC (2018) Socioecological factors affecting range defensibility among howler monkeys. Int J Primatol 39:90–104
Bailey TN (2005) The African leopard: ecology and behavior of a solitary felid. The Blackburn Press, Caldwell
Benadi G, Fichtel C, Kappeler P (2008) Intergroup relations and home range use in Verreaux’s sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi). Am J Primatol 70:956–965
Bernard H, Matsuda I, Hanya G, Ahmad AB (2011) Characteristics of night sleeping trees of proboscis monkeys (Nasalis larvatus) in Sabah, Malaysia. Int J Primatol 32:259–267
Bidner LR, Matsumoto-Oda A, Isbell LA (2018) The role of sleeping sites in the predator-prey dynamics of leopards and olive baboons. Am J Primatol 80:e22932
Bivand R, Keitt T, Rowlingson B (2019) rgdal: bindings for the ‘Geospatial’ data abstraction library. R package version 1.4-8, https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=rgdal. Accessed 15 May 2020
Bivand RS, Pebesma EJ, Gomez-Rubio V (2013) Applied spatial data analysis with R, 2nd edn. Springer, New York. https://www.asdar-book.org/. Accessed 15 May 2020
Bonadonna G, Torti V, SorrentinoV RRM, Zaccagno M, Gamba M, Tan CL, Giacoma C (2017) Territory exclusivity and intergroup encounters in the indris (Mammalia: Primates: Indridae: Indri indri) upon methodological tuning. Eur Zool J 84:238–251
Bonadonna G, Zaccagno M, Torti V, Valente D, De Gregoiro C, Randrianarison RM, Tan C, Gamba M, Giacoma C (2020) Intra- and intergroup spatial dynamics of a pair-living singing primate, Indri indri: a multiannual study of three indri groups in Maromizaha Forest, Madagascar. Int J Primatol 41:224–245
Börger L, Dalziel BD, Fryxell JM (2008) Are there general mechanisms of animal home range behaviour? A review and prospects for future research. Ecol Lett 11:637–650
Bothma JP, van Rooyen N, Theron GK, leRiche EAN (1994) Quantifying woody plants as hunting cover for southern Kalahari leopards. J Arid Environ 26:273–280
Boydston EE, Morelli TL, Holecamp KE (2001) Sex differences in territorial behavior exhibited by the spotted hyena (Hyaenidae, Crocuta crocuta). Ethology 107:369–385
Braune P, Schmidt S, Zimmerman E (2005) Spacing and group coordination in a nocturnal primate, the golden brown mouse lemur (Microcebus ravelobensis): the role of olfactory and acoustic signals. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 58:587–596
Brown JL, Orians GH (1970) Spacing patterns in mobile animals. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 1:346–352
Brown M (2013) Food and range defense in group-living primates. Anim Behav 85:807–816
Brown M (2014) Patch occupation time predicts responses by grey-cheeked mangabeys (Lophocebus albigena) to real and simulated neighboring groups. Int J Primatol 35:491–508
Burger AL, Fennessy J, Fennessy S, Dierkes PW (2020) Nightly selection of resting sites and group behavior reveal antipredator strategies in giraffe. Ecol Evol 10:2917–2927
Burt WH (1943) Territoriality and home range concepts as applied to mammals. J Mammal 24:346–352
Calenge C (2006) The package adehabitat for the R software: a tool for the analysis of space and habitat use by animals. Ecol Model 197:516–519
Cascelli de Azevedo FC, Murray DL (2007) Spatial organization and food habits of jaguars (Panthera onca) in a floodplain forest. Biol Conserv 137:391–402
Chapman CA (1990) Association patterns of spider monkeys: the influence of ecology and sex on social organization. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 26:409–414
Cheney DL (1981) Intergroup encounters among free-ranging vervet monkeys. Folia Primatol 35:124–146
Cheney DL (1987) Interactions and relationships between groups. In: Smuts BB, Cheney DL, Seyfarth RM, Wrangham RW, Struhsaker TT (eds) Primate societies. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 267–281
Cheney DL, Seyfarth RM (1987) The influence of intergroup competition on the survival and reproduction of female vervet monkeys. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 21:375–386
Clutton-Brock TH, Harvey PH (1977) Primate ecology and social organization. J Zool (Lond) 183:1–39
Cords M (2002) Friendship among adult female blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis). Behaviour 139:291–314
Cowlishaw G (1994) Vulnerability to predation in baboon populations. Behaviour 131:293–304
Crofoot MC, Gilby IC, Wikelski MC, Kays RW (2008) Interaction location outweighs the competitive advantage of numerical superiority in Cebus capucinus intergroup contests. P Natl Acad Sci USA 105:577–581
Davies NB, Houston AI (1981) Owners and satellites: the economics of territory defence in the pied wagtail, Motacilla alba. J Anim Ecol 50:157–180
De Moor PP, Steffens FE (1972) The movements of vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) within their ranges as revealed by radio-tracking. J Anim Ecol 41:677–687
Ellis K, Di Fiore A (2019) Variation in space use and social cohesion within and between four groups of woolly monkeys (Lagothrix lagotricha poeppigii) in relation to fruit availability and mating opportunities at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station, Ecuador. In: Reyna-Hurtado R, Chapman CA (eds) Movement ecology of neotropical forest mammals. Springer Switzerland, Cham, pp 141–171
Feilen KL, Marshall AJ (2014) Sleeping site selection by proboscis monkeys (Nasalis larvatus) in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Am J Primatol 76:1127–1139
FitzGibbon CD, Lazarus J (1995) Antipredator behavior of Serengeti ungulates: individual differences and population consequences. In: Sinclair ARE, Arcese P (eds) Serengeti II: dynamics, management, and conservation of an ecosystem. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 274–296
Ford AT, Goheen JR, Otieno TO, Bidner L, Isbell LA, Palmer TM, Ward D, Woodroffe R, Pringle RM (2014) Large carnivores make savanna tree communities less thorny. Science 346:346–349
Gartlan JS, Brain CK (1968) Ecology and social variability in Cercopithecus aethiops and C. mitis. In: Jay PC (ed) Primates: studies in adaptation and variability. Holt, Rhinehart and Winston, New York, pp 253–292
Gibb J (1956) Food, feeding habits and territory of the rock pipit Anthrus spinoletta. Ibis 98:506–530
Gibson L, Koenig A (2012) Neighboring groups and habitat edges modulate range use in Phayre’s leaf monkeys (Trachypithecus phayrei crepusculus). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 66:633–643
Goheen JR, Palmer TM, Charles GK, Helgen KM, Kinyua SN, Maclean JE, Turner BL, Young HS, Pringle RM (2013) Piecewise disassembly of a large-herbivore community across a rainfall gradient: the UHURU experiment. PLoS One 8:e55192
Grobler JP, Turner TR (2010) A novel trap design for the capture and sedation of vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops). S Afr J Wildl Res 40:163–168
Gursky SL (2007) The spectral tarsier. Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River
Henzi SP, Lucas JW (1980) Observations on the inter-troop movement of adult vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops). Folia Primatol 33:220–235
Herrmann S, Mohr KI (2011) A continental-scale classification of rainfall seasonality regimes in Africa based on gridded precipitation and land surface temperature products. J Appl Meteorol Climatol 50:2504–2513
Herzog NM, Keefe ER, Parker CH, Hawkes K (2016) What’s burning got to do with it? Primate foraging opportunities in fire-modified landscapes. Am J Phys Anthropol 159:432–441
Hill RA, Weingrill T (2007) Predation risk and habitat use in chacma baboons (Papio hamadryas ursinus). In: Gursky S, Nekaris KAI (eds) Primate anti-predator strategies. Springer, New York, pp 339–354
Hoare S (2019) The possible role of predator-prey dynamics as an influence of early hominin use of burned landscapes. Evol Anthropol 28:295–302
Isbell LA (2004) Is there no place like home? Ecological bases of dispersal in primates and their consequences for the formation of kin groups. In: Chapais B, Berman C (eds) Kinship and behavior in primates. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 71–108
Isbell LA, Bidner LR, Crofoot MC, Matsumoto-Oda A, Farine DR (2017) GPS-identified, low-level nocturnal activity of vervets (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) and olive baboons (Papio anubis) in Laikipia, Kenya. Am J Phys Anthropol 164:203–211
Isbell LA, Bidner LR, Omondi G, Mutinda M, Matsumoto-Oda A (2019) Capture, immobilization, and Global Positioning System collaring of olive baboons (Papio anubis) and vervets (Chlorocebus pygerythrus): lessons learned and suggested best practices. Am J Primatol 81:e22997
Isbell LA, Bidner LR, Van Cleave EK, Matsumoto-Oda A, Crofoot MC (2018) GPS-identified vulnerabilities of savannah-woodland primates to leopard predation and their implications for early hominins. J Hum Evol 118:1–13
Isbell LA, Cheney DL, Seyfarth RM (1990) Costs and benefits of home range shifts among vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) in Amboseli National Park, Kenya. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 27:351–358
Isbell LA, Cheney DL, Seyfarth RM (1993) Are immigrant vervet monkeys, Cercopithecus aethiops, at greater risk of mortality than residents? Anim Beahv 45:729–734
Isbell LA, Cheney DL, Seyfarth RM (2002) Why vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) live in multimale groups. In: Glenn M, Cords M (eds) The guenons: diversity and adaptation in African monkeys. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York, pp 173–187
Isbell LA, Van Vuren D (1996) Differential costs of locational and social dispersal and their consequences for female group-living primates. Behaviour 133:1–36
Jackson CR, Groom RJ, Jordan NR, McNutt JW (2017) The effect of relatedness and pack size on territory overlap in African wild dogs. Mov Ecol 5:10
Jaffe KE, Isbell LA (2009) After the fire: benefits of reduced ground cover for vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops). Am J Primatol 71:252–260
Jarman PJ (1974) The social organisation of antelope in relation to their ecology. Behaviour 48:215–266
Jetz W, Carone C, Fulford J, Brown JH (2004) The scaling of animal space use. Science 306:266–268
Jordan NR, Buse C, Wilson AM, Golabek KA, Apps PJ, Lowe JC, Van der Weyde LK, McNutt JW (2017) Dynamics of direct inter-pack encounters in endangered African wild dogs. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 71:115
José-Domínguez JM, Asensio N, García García CJ, Huynen M-C, Savini T (2015) Exploring the multiple functions of sleeping sites in northern pig-tailed macaques (Macaca leonina). Int J Primatol 36:948–966
Kaufmann JH (1962) Ecology and social behavior of the coati, Nasua nirica on Barro Colorado Island Panama. Univ Calif Publ Zool 60:95–222
Kaufmann JH (1983) On the definitions and functions of dominance and territoriality. Biol Rev 58:1–20
Kitchen DM, Cheney DL, Seyfarth RM (2004) Factors mediating intergroup encounters in savannah baboons (Papio cynocephalus ursinus). Behaviour 141:197–218
Koch F, Signer J, Kappeler PM, Fichtel C (2016a) Intergroup encounters in Verreaux’s sifakas (Propithecus verreauxi): who fights and why? Behav Ecol Sociobiol 70:797–808
Koch F, Signer J, Kappeler PM, Fichtel C (2016b) The role of the residence-effect on the outcome of intergroup encounters in Verreaux’s sifakas. Sci Rep 6:28457
Lindell C (1996) Patterns of nest usurpation: whey should species converge on nest niches? Condor 98:464–473
Lukas D, Clutton-Brock TH (2013) The evolution of social monogamy in mammals. Science 341:526–530
Maher CR, Lott DF (1995) Definitions of territoriality used in the study of variation in vertebrate spacing systems. Anim Behav 49:1581–1597
Markham AC, Alberts SC, Altmann J (2013) Intergroup conflict: ecological predictors of winning and consequences of defeat in a wild primate population. Anim Behav 84:399–403
Markham AC, Alberts SC, Altmann J (2016) Haven for the night: sleeping site selection in a wild primate. Behav Ecol 27:29–35
Matsuda I, Tuuga A, Bernard H (2011) Riverine refuging by proboscis monkeys (Nasalis larvatus) and sympatric primates: implications for adaptive benefits of the riverine habitat. Mamm Biol 76:165–171
McCauley DJ, Graham SI, Dawson TE, Power ME, Ogada M, Nyingi WD, Githaiga JM, Nyunja J, Hughey LF, Brashares JS (2018) Diverse effects of the common hippopotamus on plant communities and soil chemistry. Oecologia 188:821–835
McNab BK (1963) Bioenergetics and the determination of home range size. Am Nat 97:133–140
Milton K, May ML (1976) Body weight, diet and home range area in primates. Nature 259:459–462
Mitani JC, Rodman PS (1979) Territoriality: the relation of ranging pattern and home range size to defendability, with an analysis of territoriality among primate species. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 5:241–251
Nievergelt CM, Mutschler T, Feistner ATC (1998) Group encounters and territoriality in wild Alaotran gentle lemurs (Hapalemur griseus alaotrensis). Am J Primatol 46:251–258
Oates JF (1977) The social life of a black-and-white colobus monkey, Colobus guereza. Z Tierpsychol 45:1–60
Olupot W, Waser PM (2001) Activity patterns, habitat use and mortality risks of mangabey males living outside social groups. Anim Behav 61:1227–1235
Palminteri S, Peres CA (2012) Habitat selection and use of space by bald-faced sakis (Pithecia irrorata) in southwestern Amazonia: lessons from a multiyear multigroup study. Int J Primatol 33:401–417
Palminteri S, Powell GVN, Peres CA (2016) Determinants of spatial behavior of a tropical forest seed predator: the roles of optimal foraging, dietary diversification, and home range defense. Am J Primatol 78:523–533
Pasternak G, Brown LR, Keinzle S, Fuller A, Barrett L, Henzi SP (2013) Population ecology of vervet monkeys in a high latitude, semi-arid riparian woodland. Koedoe 55:1078
Payne HFP, Lawes MJ, Henzi SP (2003) Competition and the exchange of grooming among female samango monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis erythrarchus). Behaviour 140:453–471
Pearce F, Carbone C, Cowlishaw G, Isaac NJB (2013) Space-use scaling and home range overlap in primates. Proc R Soc B 280:20122122
Pebesma EJ, Bivand RS (2005) Classes and methods for spatial data in R. R News 5:9–13
Peres CA (1992) Consequences of joint-territoriality in a mixed-species group of tamarin monkeys. Behaviour 123:220–246
Person DK, Hirth DH (1991) Home range and habitat use of coyotes in a farm region of Vermont. J Wildl Manag 55:433–441
Pitelka FA (1959) Numbers, breeding schedule, and territoriality in pectoral sandpipers of northern Alaska. Condor 61:233–264
Potts KB, Baken E, Levang A, Watts DP (2016) Ecological factors influencing habitat use by chimpanzees at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda. Am J Primatol 78:432–440
Potts JR, Lewis MA (2014) How do animal territories form and change? Lessons from 20 years of mechanistic modelling. Proc R Soc B 281:20140231
QGIS Development Team (2019) QGIS Geographic Information System. Open Source Geospatial Foundation Project, https://qgis.osgeo.org. Accessed 15 May 2020
R Core Team (2019) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna. https://www.R-project.org/. Accessed 15 May 2020
Radford AN, du Plessis M (2004) Green woodhoopoe Phoeniculus purpureus territories remain stable despite group-size fluctuations. J Avian Biol 35:262–268
Rasoloharijaona S, Rakotosamimanana B, Randrianambinina B, Zimmerman E (2003) Pair-specific usage of sleeping sites and their implications for social organization in a nocturnal Malagasy primate, the Milne-Edwards’ sportive lemur (Lepilemur edwardsi). Am J Phys Anthropol 122:251–258
Reichard U (1998) Sleeping sites, sleeping places, and presleep behavior of gibbons (Hylobates lar). Am J Primatol 46:35–62
Roth AM, Cords M (2016) Effects of group size and contest location on the outcome and intensity of intergroup contests in wild blue monkeys. Anim Behav 113:49–58
Schoener TW (1968) Sizes of feeding territories among birds. Ecology 49:123–141
Sekulic R (1982) Daily and seasonal patterns of roaring and spacing in four red howler Alouatta seniculus troops. Folia Primatol 39:22–48
Stamps JA, Krishnan VV (2001) How territorial animals compete for divisible space: a learning-based model with unequal competitors. Am Nat 157:154–169
Strong MJ, Sherman BL, Riehl C (2018) Home field advantage, not group size, predicts outcomes of intergroup conflicts in a social bird. Anim Behav 143:205–213
Struhsaker TT (1967a) Social structure among vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops). Behaviour 29:83–121
Struhsaker TT (1967b) Ecology of vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) in the Masai-Amboseli Reserve, Kenya. Ecology 48:891–904
Suire A, Isbell LA, Bidner LR, Shinoda Y, Akasaka M, Matsumoto-Oda A (in press) Influence of rainfall on sleeping site choice by a group of anubis baboons (Papio anubis). Am J Primatol
Sunquist ME, Sunquist FC (1989) Ecological constraints on predation by large felids. In: Gittleman JL (ed) Carnivore behavior, ecology, and evolution. Cornell University Press, New York, pp 281–324
Tallents LA, Randall DA, Williams SD, Macdonald DW (2012) Territory quality determines social group composition in Ethiopian wolves Canis simensis. J Anim Ecol 81:24–35
Thaker M, Vanak AT, Owen CR, Ogden MB, Neimann SM, Slotow R (2011) Minimizing predation risk in a landscape of multiple predators: effects on the spatial distribution of African ungulates. Ecology 92:398–407
Tucker MA, Böhning-Gaese K, Fagan WF, Fryxell JM, van Moorter B, Alberts SC, Ali AH, Allen AM, Attias N, Avgar T, Bartlam-Brooks H, Bayarbaatar B, Belant JL, Bertassoni A, Beyer D, Bidner L, van Beest FM, Blake S, Blaum N, Bracis C, Brown D, de Bruyn PJN, Cagnacci F, Calabrese JM, Camilo-Alves C, Chamaillé-Jammes S, Chiaradia A, Davidson SC, Dennis T, DeStefano S, Diefenbach D, Douglas-Hamilton I, Fennessy J, Fichtel C, Fiedler W, Fischer C, Fischhoff I, Fleming CH, Ford AT, Fritz SA, Gehr B, Goheen JR, Gurarie E, Hebblewhite M, Heurich M, Hewison AJM, Hof C, Hurme E, Isbell LA, Janssen R, Jeltsch F, Kaczensky P, Kane A, Kappeler PM, Kauffman M, Kays R, Kimuyu D, Koch F, Kranstauber B, LaPoint S, Leimgruber P, Linnell JDC, López-López P, Markham AC, Mattisson J, Medici EP, Mellone U, Merrill E, de Miranda Mourão G, Morato RG, Morellet N, Morrison TA, Díaz-Muñoz SL, Mysterud A, Nandintsetseg D, Nathan R, Niamir A, Odden J, O’Hara RB, Oliveira-Santos LGR, Olson KA, Patterson BD, Cunha de Paula R, Pedrotti L, Reineking B, Rimmler M, Rogers TL, Rolandsen CM, Rosenberry CS, Rubenstein DI, Safi K, Saïd S, Sapir N, Sawyer H, Schmidt NM, Selva N, Sergiel A, Shiilegdamba E, Silva JP, Singh N, Solberg EJ, Spiegel O, Strand O, Sundaresan S, Ullmann W, Voigt U, Wall J, Wattles D, Wikelski M, Wilmers CC, Wilson JW, Wittemyer G, Zięba F, Zwijacz-Kozica T, Mueller T (2018) Moving in the Anthropocene: global reductions in terrestrial mammalian movements. Science 359:466–469
Van Belle S, Estrada A (2020) The influence of loud calls on intergroup spacing mechanism in black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra). Int J Primatol 41:26–286
Van Cleave E, Bidner LR, Ford AT, Caillaud DC, Wilmers CC, Isbell LA (2018) Diel patterns of movement activity and habitat use by leopards (Panthera pardus pardus) living in a human-dominated landscape in Central Kenya. Biol Conserv 226:224–237
VanderWaal KL, Wang H, McCowan B, Fushing H, Isbell LA (2014) Multi-level social organization and space use in reticulated giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis). Behav Ecol 25:17–26
van Schaik CP, Assink PR, Salafsky N (1992) Territorial behavior in Southeast Asian langurs: resource defense or mate defense? Am J Primatol 26:233–242
Wahungu GM (2001) Common use of sleeping sites by two primate species in Tana River, Kenya. Afr J Ecol 39:18–23
Wartmann FM, Juarez C, Fernandez-Duque E (2014) Size, site fidelity, and overlap of home ranges and core areas in the socially monogamous owl monkey (Aotus azarae) of northern Argentina. Int J Primatol 35:919–939
Waser PM, Jones WT (1983) Natal philopatry among solitary mammals. Q Rev Biol 58:355–390
Wikelski M, Kays R (2017) Movebank: archive, analysis and sharing of animal movement data, https://www.movebank.org. Accessed 2 Feb 2018
Willems EP, Arseneau TJM, Schleuning X, van Schaik CP (2015) Communal range defence in primates as a public goods dilemma. Philos Trans R Soc B 370:20150003
Willems EP, Hellriegel B, van Schaik CP (2013) The collective action problem in primate territory economics. Proc R Soc B 280:20130081
Wolff JO (1993) Why are female small mammals territorial? Oikos 68:364–370
Wrangham RW (1980) An ecological model of female-bonded primate groups. Behaviour 75:262–300
Wrangham RW, Crofoot M, Lundy R, Gilby I (2007) Use of overlap zones among group-living primates: a test of the risk hypothesis. Behaviour 144:1599–1619
Young TP, Okello B, Kinyua D, Palmer TM (1997) KLEE: a long-term multi-species herbivore exclusion experiment in Laikipia, Kenya. Afr J Range For Sci 14:92–104
Acknowledgments
We thank G. Omondi and M. Mutinda for their veterinary services during the capture process; W. Longor, A. Sneath, K. VanderWaal, and J. Wanjala for additional field assistance; and M. Kinnaird and the staff at Mpala Research Centre for logistical assistance. We also thank associate editor Kevin Langergraber and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions on an earlier version.
Funding
This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant Nos. BCS 99-03949 and BCS 1266389), the Leakey Foundation, and the University of California, Davis, Committee on Research to LAI; Wenner-Gren Foundation (Grant No. 8386) to LRB, and an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and a UC Davis Dean’s Distinguished Graduate Fellowship to JCL.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Ethics approval
This study was approved by the University of California, Davis, under IACUC protocol # 17477, and the Government of Kenya (NACOSTI permit # P/15/5820/4650). Permission to conduct research in Kenya was granted by NACOSTI (permit # P/15/5820/4650), and the Kenya Wildlife Service provided local affiliation. All applicable international, national, and institutional guidelines for the use of animals were followed. The study also conformed to the International Primatological Society’s and American Society of Primatologists’ Code of Best Practices for Field Primatology.
Consent to participate
Not applicable
Consent for publication
Not applicable
Code availability
Openly available at https://github.com/CarterLoftus/Isbell_et_al_Absentee_Owners. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4015395
Additional information
Communicated by K. Langergraber
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Isbell, L.A., Bidner, L.R., Loftus, J.C. et al. Absentee owners and overlapping home ranges in a territorial species. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 75, 21 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-020-02945-7
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-020-02945-7