frugivory by carnivores: black-backed jackals are key dispersers of seeds of the scented !nara melon in the Namib desert

Carnivorous mammals have been reported to feed on fleshy fruits and to disperse seeds, but these interactions are seldom observed and are poorly understood. Scent may play a key role in these interactions, given that most carnivores have sensitive olfactory systems and dichromatic vision. The !nara (Acanthosicyos horridus: Cucurbitaceae) in the Namib desert produces large (10 – 20 cm diameter) melons that remain green while undergoing increased volatile emissions with a changing chemical profile as they ripen. Using extensive camera trapping, we found that the fruits are consumed mainly by black-backed jackals and rarely also by other carnivores such as cape fox and brown hyaena. Scent cues play a key role as jackals mainly sought fruits at night and easily located ripe fruits buried beneath the sand. Seeds retrieved from jackal scat showed improved germination relative to un-ingested seeds. This study highlights the importance of fruit scent in mediating seed-dispersal mutualisms invol...,
The Data was data in the Excel sheet named Jackal Visitation, and Buried was collected using motion sensor camera traps. Therefore, the information has been manually extracted from videos and images captured by the camera from the experiment to observe animals visiting !nara plants, removal and consumption of melon, as well as other behaviours displayed by the visiting animal.
Data in the seed germination file was obtained from the germination experiment that was performed in the Laboratory.
Detailed methods of the experiments are included in the Manuscript under the method section.
, , # Data from: frugivory by carnivores: black-backed jackals are key dispersers of seeds of the scented !nara melon in the Namib desert

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3xsj3txkq](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3xsj3txkq)

## Description of the data and file structure

This README file describes the data package accompanying the above Manuscript.

Files: This folder contains three Excel sheets as described below:

1\. Jackal visitation: Contains three spreadsheets as described below

a. DataFrame; which contains the data used to analyze the results of visitation and fruit removal/consumption.

b. Plant ID; which contains the ID of the individual plants used in the study and their coordinates (Latitude and Longitude).

c. MetaData: Contain the information and explanation of each column in the DataFrame spreadsheet.

2\. Buried melons: Contain two spreadsheets as described below

a. Dataframe: Contain the data from the cafeteria experiment that was set up to identify whether jackals will ...