Abstract:

Vigilance is an important strategy of anti-predation. After foraging and reproductive behavior, vigilance behavior has become another important research domain in behavioral ecology. However, original raw data of such kinds of study are seldom shared, despite the mounting studies on vigilance behavior of hundreds of birds and mammals. Here I publish vigilance datasets of three rare ungulates in China collected by focal sampling. These datasets include 716 samples, of which 175 are from Przewalski’s gazelle Procapra przewalskii, 180 are from the Tibetan gazelle P. picticaudata and 361 are from Père David’s deer Elaphurus davidianus. I also include environmental variables, including sex, group type, group size, predation risk and human disturbance. A positive group size effect was found in all three ungulates, and this interacted with sex and predation risk/human disturbance. I attempt to establish a criterion for behavioral data collection, and to improve data sharing and exploration in ethology.

Key words: predation risk, anti-predation strategy, group-size effect, Père David’s deer, Przewalski’s gazelle, group size, human disturbance, Tibetan gazelle