Data from: Can one animal represent an entire herd? Modeling pastoral mobility using GPS/GIS technology

GPS technology allows researchers to examine questions about pastoral mobility at multiple spatiotemporal scales, from daily herd movements to annual transhumance orbits. We examined whether the movements of one animal are representative of the behavior of other animals in the herd, i.e., whether it is possible to track one animal in a herd for studies of pastoralist movements. We examined this question by putting GPS trackers on multiple animals in two different herds. Our study shows that despite the complexities of the interplay between herders’ management and cattle’s social behavior, tracking one animal with GPS is a valid method to study movements and grazing behavior of an entire cattle herd in mobile pastoral systems.