Fig. 1

Schematic representation of the geographical distribution of colonies within the 500 m × 1700 m study site in Tswalu Kalahari Reserve. Colonies are depicted as black circles, with sizes representing sample size (ranging from 1 to 20 individuals in a given year). Colonies representing multiple sampling holes are depicted by grey dashed lines, and grey dotted circles indicate colonies not sampled (i.e. not present) in a given year. Dispersal events are indicated by coloured arrows representing adult males (dark blue), adult females (red), sub-adult males (light blue) and sub-adult females (pink), with coloured number-tags depicting the individual ID of each disperser