Evidence of economical territory selection in a cooperative carnivore

As an outcome of natural selection, animals are likely adapted to select territories economically by maximizing benefits and minimizing costs of territory ownership. Theory and empirical precedent indicate that a primary benefit of many territories is exclusive access to food resources, and primary costs of defending and using space are associated with competition, travel, and mortality risk. A recently-developed mechanistic model for economical territory selection provided numerous empirically testable predictions. We tested these predictions using location data from gray wolves (Canis lupus) in Montana, USA. The dataset included here contains the territory size estimates for each collared wolf and the characteristics of territories.