Data from: Exploring the effects of giraffe skin disease limb lesions on locomotion

Emerging skin diseases have severely impacted wildlife in recent decades
with consequences ranging from increased morbidity and mortality to local
extinction and widespread biodiversity loss. Individuals that persist with
various skin diseases can have sublethal consequences including altered
behavior and impaired locomotor function. Giraffe skin disease (GSD) is a
condition that results in skin lesions of varying severity among different
giraffe (Giraffa spp.) populations throughout Africa. Prior reports have
suggested that individuals with limb lesions from GSD do not have
increased mortality but rather suffer from lameness. We examined whether
GSD severity and unilateral vs. bilateral forelimb lesions differentially
impact spatiotemporal gait kinematics and carpus joint angle kinematics of
Masai giraffe (G. tippelskirchi tippelskirchi) in Ruaha National Park,
Tanzania. We found that GSD lesions altered normal walking gait kinematics
(i.e., decreased walking speed and increased stride duration) largely
irrespective of lesion severity or number of limbs affected. Impaired
movement due to GSD could negatively impact foraging efficiency,
dispersal, and predator susceptibility. Given that wildlife skin diseases
are predicted to become more prevalent with climate change, examinations
of their sublethal effects, in addition to their effects on mortality, are
required to better understand long-term ramifications.