Squirrel Coloration Scores for 205 Species in Behavioral Ecology Study

205 sciurid species across three major subfamilies were scored for coloration on the head, body, and tail. The dataset, by Leyva, Caro, Howell, and Stankowich, was published on figshare in 2026. It supports analysis of associations between coloration and ecological variables like habitat.

Use Cases

• Testing Gloger's rule associations based on habitat darkness, wetness, and warmth
• Investigating countershading based on species size and vulnerability
• Analyzing conspicuous coloration based on body size for disruptive or warning coloration hypotheses
• Examining the lack of association between dorsal striping or color blocks and ecological variables

Strengths

• Scoring performed on 205 species across three major sciurid subfamilies
• Dataset is 35.2 KB, making it lightweight and quick to download
• Explicitly tests hypotheses against two independent earlier comparative studies

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment

Provenance

Source

Theodore Stankowich via figshare

Collection Method

Coloration scoring of species for a published paper in Behavioral Ecology

Time Range

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Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-03 19:16:23; freshness should be verified

Geography

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