Wild canids and felids differ in their reliance on reused travel routeways

Diverse factors, including environmental features and cognitive processes, can drive animals' movements and space use, with far-reaching implications. For example, repeated use of individual-level travel routeways (directionally constrained but imperfectly aligned routes), which results in spatial concentration of activity, can shape encounter-based processes including predation, mate finding, and disease transmission. However, how much variation in routeway usage exists across species remains unknown. By analyzing GPS movement tracks for 1,239 range-resident mammalian carnivores-representing 16 canid and 18 felid species from six continents-we found strong evidence of a clade-level difference in species' reliance on repeatedly used travel routeways. Across the global dataset, tracked canids had a 15% (±7 CI) greater density of routeways within their home ranges than did felids, rising to 33% (±16 CI) greater in landscapes shared with tracked felids. Moreover, comparisons within species across landscapes revealed broadly similar home range routeway densities despite habitat differences. On average, canids also reused their travel routeways more intensively than did felids, with hunting strategies and spatial contexts also contributing to the intensity of routeway usage. Collectively, our results suggest that key aspects of carnivore routeway-usage have an evolutionary component. Striking interspecific and clade-level differences in carnivores' reliance on reused travel routeways within home ranges identify important ways in which the movement patterns of real-world predators depart from classical assumptions of predator-prey theory. Because such departures can drive key aspects of human-wildlife interactions and other encounter-based processes, continued investigations of the relationships between movement mechanisms and space use are critical.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published
2025-09-29
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2401042122
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
3.43

Funders

Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Wild canids and felids differ in their reliance on reused travel routeways

Kristine J. Teichman, Francisço Palomares, Nathan Ranc, Peep Männil et al.
2 citations
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
3.43
article

Wild canids and felids differ in their reliance on reused travel routeways

Kristine J. Teichman, Francisço Palomares, Nathan Ranc, Peep Männil, Fernando Jubete, Olaf Simon, Laurel E. K. Serieys, Dustin H. Ranglack, Roy McBride, Christen H. Fleming, Jared K. Wilson‐Aggarwal, Raido Kont, Zea Walton, Marco Heurich, Thomas Mueller, Roel May, Chloe Bracis, Adam T. Ford, Eliezer Gurarie, John D. C. Linnell, David S. Jachowski, J. A. Hernandez-Blanco, Abi Tamim Vanak, Héctor Ruiz‐Villar, В. В. Рожнов, Tharmalingam Ramesh, Patrick Stent, A. A. Yachmennikova, Jasja Dekker, Edson S. Lima, Ronaldo Gonçalves Morato, Siobhan Darlington, AnnMarie Houser, Lynne A. Isbell, Steven E. Bellan, David Roshier, Tyler J. Wheeldon, Fernanda Cavalcanti de Azevedo, J. Weldon McNutt, Dominik M. Behr, Michael L. Wysong, Bogdan Cristescu, Leanne K. Van der Weyde, Anya Avanthi Weerawardana Ratnayaka, Michael J. Chamberlain, Jeffrey J. Thompson, Tomas Willebrand, Craig R. Jackson, М. Д. Чистополова, Taal Levi, Justin M. Calabrese, Jack Tatler, Anshuman Swain, Laura R. Prugh, Jacqueline L. Frair, Brent R. Patterson, Maria Thaker, Emrah Çoban, Peter J. Mahoney, Bruce D. Patterson, John M. Fryxell, Joel Ruprecht, David A. Illingworth, Calum X. Cunningham, Marlee A. Tucker, Andrew Butler, Andrew M. Kittle, Luiz Gustavo Rodrigues Oliveira‐Santos, Sergey V. Naidenko, J. David Blount, Christopher C. Wilmers, Mark Hebblewhite, Jerrold L. Belant, Philipp Schwemmer, А. Б. Пхитиков, Ivan V. Seryodkin, Pâmela Castro Antunes, Julie K. Young, Alayne Cotterill, N. A. Dronova, Todd K. Fuller, María Jesús Palacios González, Bayaraa Munkhtsog, Çaḡan H. Şekercioḡlu, María Luisa S. P. Jorge, Josip Kusak, Laura R. Bidner, Luisa Maria Diele‐Viegas, David C. Stoner, Rebecca Klein, Eblate Ernest Mjingo, Christopher E. Moorman, Karen E. Hodges, Steve Ekwanga, Jaime E. Jiménez, Mohammad S. Farhadinia, Kate E. Jenks, П. А. Сорокин, Agustín Paviolo, Gustaf Samelius, M. Král, Katerina V. Thompson, Stephanie Chia, William F. Fagan, Jacqueline M. Bishop, Wayne M. Getz, Dean E. Beyer, Morgan Swingen, Briana Abrahms, Karl V. Miller, G. Paavai Anand, Manfred Trinzen, Jenny Mattisson, Caio F. M. Lima, Michael R. Dougherty, Christina Barrett, Colleen Thelma Downs, Marcos Adriano Tortato, David W. Macdonald, John Oddén, Rodrigo Silva Pinto Jorge, Yuri K. Petrunenko, Guilherme Mourão, Darren A. Clark, Roland Kays, Dominique Berteaux, Kasim Rafiq, Andrey D. Poyarkov, Nucharin Songsasen, Michael Noonan, L. Mike Conner, Emmanuel H. Masenga, Teresa Nava, Bariushaa Munkhtsog, Marine Drouilly, Marianela Velilla, TJ Gooliaff, Robbie A. McDonald, Terrie M. Williams, Laurence G. Frank, Stefan Garthe, Peter Leimgruber, A. David M. Latham, Frederico Gemesio Lemos, Andrew Carter, Rogério Cunha de Paula, Fernando Lima, Johannes Lang, Bruce D. Humphries, Emiliano Esterci Ramalho, Suok‐Min Na, Ísis Zanini das Candeias, Anjan Katna, Dale G. Miquelle, Jarryd P. Streicher, Mario Haberfeld, Gabriele Cozzi, Christopher Shannon Deperno, Eivin Røskaft, Malte Götz, Rowena Hamer, Ananke Krishnan, Ricardo Moreno, Mar Iglesias, René Janssen, Elizabeth Ferreira, Steven Su, Dmitry Y. Alexandrov, D.-I. Liao, Morten Odden, Qianru Liao, Mathias Herrmann, M. Carvalho, Robert Fyumagwa, Alexander Minaev, Svetlana Soutryina, Varun Chilukuri, Shreyas Ramulu, Matías Taborda Barroso
article en
2 citations

Abstract

Diverse factors, including environmental features and cognitive processes, can drive animals' movements and space use, with far-reaching implications. For example, repeated use of individual-level travel routeways (directionally constrained but imperfectly aligned routes), which results in spatial concentration of activity, can shape encounter-based processes including predation, mate finding, and disease transmission. However, how much variation in routeway usage exists across species remains unknown. By analyzing GPS movement tracks for 1,239 range-resident mammalian carnivores-representing 16 canid and 18 felid species from six continents-we found strong evidence of a clade-level difference in species' reliance on repeatedly used travel routeways. Across the global dataset, tracked canids had a 15% (±7 CI) greater density of routeways within their home ranges than did felids, rising to 33% (±16 CI) greater in landscapes shared with tracked felids. Moreover, comparisons within species across landscapes revealed broadly similar home range routeway densities despite habitat differences. On average, canids also reused their travel routeways more intensively than did felids, with hunting strategies and spatial contexts also contributing to the intensity of routeway usage. Collectively, our results suggest that key aspects of carnivore routeway-usage have an evolutionary component. Striking interspecific and clade-level differences in carnivores' reliance on reused travel routeways within home ranges identify important ways in which the movement patterns of real-world predators depart from classical assumptions of predator-prey theory. Because such departures can drive key aspects of human-wildlife interactions and other encounter-based processes, continued investigations of the relationships between movement mechanisms and space use are critical.

Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesVol. 122(40)
University of Central Florida (US), Goethe University Frankfurt (DE), Utah State University (US), Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul (BR), University of North Texas (US), Universidade Federal da Bahia (BR), California State University System (US), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (US), University of Tasmania (AU), African Wildlife Foundation (US), Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AU), National Park Service (US), Michigan Department of Natural Resources (US), Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (US), Oregon State University (US), Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (US), Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (CA), North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (US), Wildlife Conservation Society (US), Panthera Corporation (US), Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (US), United States Fish and Wildlife Service (US), Mongolian Academy of Sciences (MN), Koç University (TR), University of Wisconsin–Madison (US), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (DE), Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TZ), North Carolina State University (US), University of Arizona (US), University of British Columbia (CA), Radboud University Nijmegen (NL), African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (ZA), Charles Sturt University (AU), SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (US), University of Cape Town (ZA), University of Freiburg (DE), Manipal Academy of Higher Education (IN), The University of Queensland (AU), University of Georgia (US), The University of Western Australia (AU), University of Zagreb (HR), Université du Québec à Rimouski (CA), Environment Agency (GB), University of California, Santa Cruz (US), Okanagan College (CA), Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (BR), Vanderbilt University (US), University of Washington (US), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NO), University of Kent (GB), Universidade do Estado do Pará (BR), University of Utah (US), University of Exeter (GB), University of Massachusetts Amherst (US), University of Michigan (US), American Sentinel University (US), Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (US), Bavarian Forest National Park (DE), CRC for Spatial information (AU), Government of Extremadura (ES), Field Museum of Natural History (US), Teaching Hospital Kandy (LK), Leverhulme Trust (GB), Radboud University Medical Center (NL), Mammal Research Institute (PL), University of California System (US), Leopardstown Park Hospital (IE), Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Kiel (DE), Beijing Forestry University (CN), University of Nebraska at Kearney (US), University of Oxford (GB), Institute of Forest Ecology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK), Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR), Estación Biológica de Doñana (ES), Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve (RU), Education Authority (GB), Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas (BR), Sustainability Institute (ZA), Institute for Biodiversity (DE), Government of British Columbia (CA), Animal Science Research Institute (CN), Kalahari Conservation Society (BW), Quantitative BioSciences (US), Herzen University (RU), Fundación para el Desarrollo de la Ecología (BO), Evolutionary Genomics (United States) (US), Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences (NL), Croatian Veterinary Institute (HR), Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (DE), Salim Ali Center for Ornithology and Natural History (IN), Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior (DE), Estonian Environmental Research Center (Estonia) (EE), Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (IN), University of Inland Norway (NO), Consejería de Agricultura, Pesca, Agua y Desarrollo Rural (ES), Fundação de Estudo e Pesquisa em Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (BR), Guyra Paraguay (PY), Instituto Pró-Carnívoros (BR), Wildlife Conservation Society United Kingdom (GB), The Jones Center at Ichauway (US), Sağlık Bilimleri Üniversitesi (TR), Jülicher Entsorgungsgesellschaft für Nuklearanlagen (Germany) (DE), Institute of Ecology of Mountain Territories (RU), Tasmanian Land Conservancy (AU), Education Trust (US), Center for Advanced Systems Understanding (DE), Asociación por los Derechos Civiles (AR), Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (ES), Ospedale di Mirano (IT), Centro Universitário do Cerrado Patrocínio (BR), Centro Tecnológico Nacional Agroalimentario Extremadura (ES), Translational Innovation in Medicine and Complexity (FR), Land Stewardship Project (US), Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (BR), Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor (BR), Instituto de Biología Subtropical (AR), Instituto de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Mamirauá (BR), Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RU), San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research (US), Botswana Predator Conservation Trust (BW), Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution (RU), Mpala Research Center and Wildlife Foundation (KE), Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NO), Instituto de Fomento Pesquero (CL), Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates (US), Centro Universitário do Leste de Minas Gerais (BR), 's Heeren Loo (NL), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (BE), Nederlands Instituut Voor Zuivel Oonderzoek (NL), Institute of General and Experimental Biology (RU), Universidade Federal de Catalão (BR), University of Tartu (EE), The University of Adelaide (AU), Indian Institute of Science Bangalore (IN), California State University, Long Beach (US), University of Maryland, College Park (US), University of Montana (US), University of Pretoria (ZA), University of Guelph (CA), Clemson University (US), Okanagan University College (CA), University of California, Davis (US), The University of Texas at Austin (US), Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research (NZ), University of the Western Cape (ZA), Michigan State University (US), Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) (BR), Daimler (Germany) (DE), Université Grenoble Alpes (FR), National Trust for Nature Conservation (NP), University of KwaZulu-Natal (ZA), University of California, Berkeley (US)
National Science Foundation, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Sächsisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst, Israel Institute for Biological Research, Graduate School, University of Maryland
Openalex Percentile: Top 7%
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
3.43
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.