Tree-climbing in African lions and leopards

This dataset contains field observations used to analyse tree-climbing behaviour in African lions (Panthera leo) and leopards (Panthera pardus). Observations were collected during opportunistic encounters with individuals or groups of these species in Tarangire National Park (TNP), Burunge Wildlife Management Area (BWMA), Manyara Ranch (MR), Serengeti National Park (SNP), Ngorongoro Conservation Area – Crater (Crater) and Ngorongoro Conservation Area – Ndutu (Ndutu).
For each observation event, information was recorded on group composition, arboreal behaviour, presence of prey carcasses, and tree availability at the observation site.
The dataset is structured to allow replication of analyses investigating the ecological and behavioural correlates of arboreal behaviour in large felids.
The repository includes:
• Leopards.txt – observational data on leopard encounters
• Lions.txt – observational data on lion encounters
• Rcode_analysis.R – annotated R script used for data processing and analysis
The R script reproduces the analyses and figures associated with the study and includes instructions for directory management to ensure correct file paths.

File structure
Leopards.txt
Each row represents a single observation event of one or more leopards.
Variables:
• GroupID – unique identifier for each observation event
• Date – date of observation
• Time – time of observation
• Area – study area of observation
• Group_size – number of individuals observed
• N_adult_female – number of adult females
• N_adult_male – number of adult males
• N_subadult – number of subadults
• N_unknown – number of individuals whose age/sex could not be determined
• Kill_present – indicates whether prey remains were present
• Kill_species – prey species identified at the observation site
• Any_arboreal – binary indicator of arboreal behaviour (e.g., individual observed in tree)
• Tree_used_type – type of tree used by the animal when arboreal behaviour was observed
• Tree_available – presence of climbable trees in the vicinity of the observation
• Tree_available_type – dominant tree type available in the observation area
• Comment – additional field notes or contextual information

Lions.txt
Each row represents a single observation event of lions.
Variables include the same fields as in the leopard dataset, with additional information on the number and identity of individuals displaying arboreal behaviour:
• GroupID – unique observation identifier
• Date – date of observation
• Time – time of observation
• Area – study area of observation
• Group_size – number of individuals in the group
• N_adult_female – number of adult females
• N_adult_male – number of adult males
• N_subadult – number of subadults
• N_unknown – number of individuals with unknown age/sex
• Kill_present – presence of prey remains
• Kill_species – prey species recorded
• Any_arboreal – binary indicator of arboreal behaviour
• Tree_used_type – type of tree used
• Tree_available – presence of climbable trees nearby
• Tree_available_type – dominant tree type available
• N_arboreal_total – total number of lions observed in trees
• N_arboreal_adult_female – number of adult females in trees
• N_arboreal_adult_male – number of adult males in trees
• N_arboreal_subadult – number of subadults in trees
• N_arboreal_unknown – number of individuals of unknown class in trees
• Comment – additional field notes

Rcode_analysis.R
This script contains the R code used to process the datasets and reproduce the analyses and figures. The script includes instructions for setting local directories for:
• the data folder containing Lions.txt and Leopards.txt
• the figure output folder where generated figures are stored
To reproduce the analyses, users need to create these folders, save the data in the data folder, and adjust the directory paths to match the local file structure on their computer before running the script.