Data from: High ambient temperatures are associated with reduced foraging capacity in an equatorial mammal, the banded mongoose (Mungos mungo)

Khera, Monil 1 ; Arbuckle, Kevin 1 ; Bwambale, Onismus2; Mwanguhya, Francis2; Nicholl, Megan1; Cant, Michael3; Nichols, Hazel 1

Published Aug 15, 2025 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.866t1g23j

Data files

Aug 15, 2025 version files 64.04 KB

Analysis_for_submission.R

27.25 KB
Dataset.csv

31.77 KB
README.md

5.02 KB

Abstract

Due to anthropogenic climate change, there is substantial interest in how temperature variation impacts reproduction and survival in animal populations, however the underlying mechanisms are often poorly understood. Animals often behaviourally thermoregulate under high ambient temperatures (T_as) to avoid their body temperatures rising, for instance becoming less active and resting in shade. However, this can trade off with performing vital activities including foraging, reproduction and social behaviours.

We studied a Ugandan population of banded mongooses (Mungos mungo) to investigate how changing temperatures impact behaviour. We found that banded mongooses reduce activity under high T_as, such that foraging opportunities in particular are constrained. This may explain why previous studies on this species have found that offspring care is reduced under high T_as, resulting in lower pup weight and survival, as adults may struggle to meet their daily food requirements and therefore prioritise their own survival over helping to raise pups.

As global temperatures continue to increase, lowland equatorial species (which are already subject to high T_as) may struggle to both behaviourally thermoregulate and maintain energy intake through foraging. Our study highlights the importance of fine-scale quantification of behaviours in wild systems for understanding the mechanisms underlying the impact of changing environmental conditions on natural populations.

Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.866t1g23j

Description of the data and file structure

We conducted 187 video focals on a social group of wild banded mongooses (38 individuals within this group) in Queen Elizabeth National park, Mweya, Uganda in order to determine how banded mongooses behave in response to changing ambient temperatures. These focals were conducted in May 2023. Each video focal was ~5 minutes long.

Files and variables

File: Dataset.csv

Description: This dataset contains information collected during each video focal and each row represents a video focal.

Variables

Date: The date the video focal was conducted formatted as day/month/year.
Focal_ID: The ID of the video focal conducted. Each focal video has a unique focal ID that can be used to link back the data to the particular video. Whilst there are 187 video focals in this dataset the Focal_ID's go from 1-203, this is because some of the video focals were of very short duration and so were not included in the final dataset as they did not provide reliable time-budget information (e.g. some focals only lasted ~20 seconds before the individual went out of sight and so these focals were removed from the dataset). Because of this, the focal numbers in the column sometimes appear to jump e.g. 1,2,3,5,6,8 and seem to go from 1-203 but the actual number of focals is 187.
start_time: The time of the start of the video focal. This is given as the number of seconds past midnight (for analysis purposes) and so can be converted to given the actual time of day in hours, minutes, and seconds (there are 3600 seconds in an hour).
sunlight: We gave three broad categories of sunlight exposure observed at the start of our focal, full clouded over (0), partly cloudy (1) or clear sky (2).
Temperature: The ambient temperature (°C) at the start of the focal.
humidity: The relative humidity (%) at the start of the focal
foraging: The proportion of the focal period the individual being recorded spent foraging (see ethogram in the full paper for how this behaviour is defined for our study).
huddling: The proportion of the focal period the individual being recorded spent huddling (see ethogram in the full paper for how this behaviour is defined for our study).
walking: The proportion of the focal period the individual being recorded spent walking (see ethogram in the paper for how this behaviour is defined for our study).
running: The proportion of the focal period the individual being recorded spent running (see ethogram in the paper for how this behaviour is defined for our study).
stationary: The proportion of the focal period the individual being recorded spent stationary, defined as standing on two or four legs but not moving.
resting: The proportion of the focal period the individual being recorded spent resting (see ethogram in the paper for how this behaviour is defined for our study).
active_social_behaviour: The proportion of the focal period the individual being recorded spent engaging in active social behaviour (see ethogram in the paper for how this behaviour is defined for our study).
Total_time: The total time of the video focal
Active: The proportion of the focal period the individual being recorded spent being active (defined as the accumulation of active behaviours (running, walking, foraging, and engaging in active social behaviour).
Inactive: The proportion of the focal period the individual being recorded spent being inactive (defined as the accumulation of inactive behaviours (resting, stationary, and huddling).
image.1 to image.14: The mongoose body surface temperature (°C) readings taken during the focal using a handheld visual infrared thermometer. A maximum of 14 body surface temperature readings were taken and where fewer than 14 images were taken during a focal video the blank space was filled with "NA".
Average_temp: The average body surface temperature (°C), calculated by taking the mean of the body surface temperature readings taken during the focal.
birthdate: The birth date of the banded mongoose under focal observation.
age: The age (in days) of the banded mongoose at the time of the focal observation.
sex: The sex of the banded mongoose recorded as M or F.
diff_in_temp: The difference between the average body surface temperature (°C) and the average ambient temperature (°C), calculated by subtracting the -

File: Analysis_for_submission.R

Description: The R code containing the models for the main analysis as well as the models for the supplementary analysis.

Code/software

The dataset is in a CSV format and can be opened and viewed using either Microsoft Excel or RStudio. As described in the corresponding paper, the analysis was conducted using R-studio version 4.4.2 (2024-10-31).