Data from: Seasonal variation in foraging group size of crab-eating foxes and hoary foxes in the Cerrado biome, Central Brazil

In regions with a pronounced dry season, such as the Cerrado Biome
(Brazilian savannah), climate seasonality may affect food availability for
canid species and, consequently, their foraging behavior. We investigated
seasonal variation in foraging group size of crab-eating foxes (Cerdocyon
thous) and hoary foxes (Pseudalopex vetulus) in the Cerrado region for
three consecutive years. Data were obtained by direct observations of
foraging foxes during spotlight surveys. Both species were sighted
foraging individually or in pairs with or without their juvenile
offspring. However, crab-eating foxes foraged in pairs more frequently in
the wet season and individually more frequently in the dry season whereas
hoary foxes foraged mostly individually throughout the year. The higher
frequency of solitary foragers in the dry season is possibly a response to
the seasonal shortages in the availability of clumped and locally abundant
food resources such as fruit and insects, important items in the diet of
the crab-eating fox during the wet season. The absence of seasonal
variation in foraging group size of the hoary fox may be related to its
specialized food habits, since termites predominate in the diet of this
species in both seasons.