Data from: Evidence of economical territory selection in a cooperative carnivore

<p>As an outcome of natural selection, animals are likely adapted to select territories economically by maximizing benefits and minimizing costs of territory ownership. Theory and empirical precedent indicate that a primary benefit of many territories is exclusive access to food resources, and primary costs of defending and using space are associated with competition, travel, and mortality risk. A recently-developed mechanistic model for economical territory selection provided numerous empirically testable predictions. We tested these predictions using location data from gray wolves (<i>Canis lupus</i>) in Montana, USA. The dataset included here contains the territory size estimates for each collared wolf and the characteristics of territories.</p>