Long-term demography of spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) in a lion-depleted but prey-rich ecosystem

Interspecific competition has strongly shaped the evolution of large carnivore guilds. In Africa, the lion (Panthera leo) and spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta, hereafter hyena), exert direct and indirect competitive impacts on each other and on subordinate guild members. The impacts of competition on demography are complex and not well-understood.  With carnivore guilds now ubiquitously impacted by humans, disentangling effects of interspecific competition and other drivers of hyena demography is important.
Western Zambia’s Greater Liuwa Ecosystem (GLE) provides a unique natural experiment where lions were functionally eliminated from the system. Hyenas are the apex predator, with an abundant prey base, and low levels of human-hyena conflict. We measured GLE hyena survival and density, using mark-recapture models fit to ten years of data from 663 known individuals in 11 clans.   
GLE hyena densities were high, though slightly lower than other wildebeest-dominated systems, a..., Over a time period of 9 years (2010 - 2019) of year-round monitoring, a combination of stratified random sampling and opportunistic sightings was used to observe 663 individually known hyenas. We binned sightings of each individual into 2-month bins and created capture histories for each individual. 
We then used Bayesian statistical methods to fit Cormack-Jolly-Seber and closed-capture models of age-sex specific survival, reproduction and population densities per season., , # Long-term demography of spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) in a lion-depleted but prey-rich ecosystem

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.612jm64d5](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.612jm64d5)

## Description of the data and file structure

These data were collected to fit Cormack-Jolly-Seber (CJS) models for Bayesian statistical analysis for the estimation of age-sex-specific survival rates as well as time-trends in density of a Spotted hyena (*Crocuta crocuta*)* *population. 

Data were collected year-round between June 2010 and November 2019 through a combination of stratified random sampling and opportunistic sightings. Sightings of individuals were recorded and, when possible, sex of the individuals was determined. Upon first sighting of a new individual, a Date of Birth (DOB) was estimated and an error-range relative to the certainty of the estimated DOB was assigned. 

For the survival analysis, individual detection histories (excluding those that were confirmed to have died during the s...