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O'Hearn WJ, Beckmann J, Von Fersen L, Dal Pesco F, Mundry R, Keupp S, Diakhate N, Niederbremer C, Fischer J. Increased female competition for males with enhanced foraging skills in Guinea baboons. Proc Biol Sci 2025; 292:20242925. [PMID: 40040456 PMCID: PMC11880840 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2024.2925] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2024] [Revised: 02/05/2025] [Accepted: 02/13/2025] [Indexed: 03/06/2025] Open
Abstract
Recognizing skilful group members is crucial for making optimal social choices. Whether and how nonhuman animals attribute skill to others is still debated. Using a lever-operated food box, we enhanced the foraging skill of a single male (the specialist) in one zoo-housed and two wild groups of Guinea baboon (Papio papio). We measured group members' behavioural responses before, during and after our manipulation to reveal whether they focused on the outcome of the male's actions or changed their assessment of his long-term value. During the manipulation, females in the specialist's unit, but not the wider group, competed over access to the specialist-increasing their grooming of him 10-fold and aggression near him fourfold. Both behaviours were predicted by the amount each female ate from the food box and returned to baseline within 2 weeks of its removal. This behavioural pattern supports an outcome-based assessment where females responded to male-provided benefits (utility) rather than attributing competence (value). By contrast, males from the wider party ate prodigiously from the reward but did not change their behaviour towards the specialist at all-revealing different social strategies corresponding to the social stratification of the Guinea baboon's multi-level society.
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Affiliation(s)
- William John O'Hearn
- Department of Primate Cognition, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen37077, Germany
- Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Centre, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen37077, Germany
- Leibniz Science Campus Primate Cognition, Göttingen37077, Germany
| | | | | | - Federica Dal Pesco
- Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Centre, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen37077, Germany
- Leibniz Science Campus Primate Cognition, Göttingen37077, Germany
| | - Roger Mundry
- Department of Primate Cognition, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen37077, Germany
- Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Centre, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen37077, Germany
- Leibniz Science Campus Primate Cognition, Göttingen37077, Germany
| | - Stefanie Keupp
- Leibniz Science Campus Primate Cognition, Göttingen37077, Germany
| | - Ndiouga Diakhate
- Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Centre, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen37077, Germany
| | - Carolin Niederbremer
- Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Centre, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen37077, Germany
| | - Julia Fischer
- Department of Primate Cognition, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen37077, Germany
- Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Centre, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen37077, Germany
- Leibniz Science Campus Primate Cognition, Göttingen37077, Germany
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Dukas R, Bailey NW. Evolutionary biology of social expertise. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2024; 99:2176-2189. [PMID: 38946116 DOI: 10.1111/brv.13115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2023] [Revised: 06/17/2024] [Accepted: 06/19/2024] [Indexed: 07/02/2024]
Abstract
There is increasing evidence that competent handling of social interactions among conspecifics has positive effects on individual fitness. While individual variation in social competence has been appreciated, the role of long-term experience in the acquisition of superior social skills has received less attention. With the goal of promoting further research, we integrate knowledge across disciplines to assess social expertise, defined as the characteristics, skills and knowledge allowing individuals with extensive social experience to perform significantly better than novices on a given social task. We focus on three categories of social behaviour. First, animals can gain from adjusting social behaviour towards individually recognised conspecifics that they interact with on a regular basis. For example, there is evidence that some territorial animals individually recognise their neighbours and modify their social interactions based on experience with each neighbour. Similarly, individuals in group-living species learn to associate with specific group members based on their expected benefits from such social connections. Individuals have also been found to devote considerable time and effort to learning about the spatial location and timing of sexual receptivity of opposite-sex neighbours to optimise reproduction. Second, signallers can enhance their signals, and receivers can refine their response to signals with experience. In many birds and insects, individuals can produce more consistent signals with experience, and females across a wide taxonomic range can adaptively adjust mating preferences after perceiving distinct male signals. Third, in many species, individuals that succeed in reproducing encounter the novel, complex task of caring for vulnerable offspring. Evidence from a few species of mammals indicates that mothers improve in providing for and protecting their young over successive broods. Finally, for social expertise to evolve, heritable variation in social expertise has to be positively associated with fitness. Heritable variation has been shown in traits contributing to social expertise including social attention, empathy, individual recognition and maternal care. There are currently limited data associating social expertise with fitness, most likely owing to sparse research effort. Exceptions include maternal care, signal refinement, and familiarity with neighbours and group members. Overall, there is evidence that individuals in many species keep refining their social skills with experience throughout life. Hence we propose promising lines of research that can quantify more thoroughly the development of social expertise and its effects on fitness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reuven Dukas
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada
| | - Nathan W Bailey
- Centre for Biological Diversity, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9TH, UK
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Ihara Y. Models of animal coalitions and their implications for human evolution. Proc Biol Sci 2024; 291:20241227. [PMID: 39471864 PMCID: PMC11521593 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2024.1227] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2024] [Revised: 08/12/2024] [Accepted: 09/13/2024] [Indexed: 11/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Social interaction is a prime driver for the evolution of animal behaviour. Dyadic interaction, in particular, has been the focus of intensive research on the evolution of mutualistic, altruistic, selfish or spiteful behaviours. Meanwhile, triadic interaction has been the minimal framework for the study of animal coalition as observed in some species of primates, as well as in carnivores and cetaceans, where two or more individuals act jointly against a third party in a competitive context. Previous mathematical models of animal coalition have either failed to explain the observed diversity in the configuration of coalition or presumed fine-tuned decision-making that may be unrealistic for non-human animals. To approach these issues, the present study develops a new model that is fairly simple, but still able to account for the observed diversity in animal coalitions. Analysis of the model specifies key parameters affecting the predicted types of coalition: the nature of the benefit being contested, the cost-to-benefit ratio associated with fighting and the synergistic effect in coalition formation. Additionally, the model is used to evaluate the social selection hypothesis, which claims that coalition formation induced social selection favouring reduced aggression and lower fighting abilities during human evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasuo Ihara
- Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyoku, Tokyo113-0033, Japan
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Papageorgiou D, Nyaguthii B, Farine DR. Compromise or choose: shared movement decisions in wild vulturine guineafowl. Commun Biol 2024; 7:95. [PMID: 38218910 PMCID: PMC10787764 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-05782-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2023] [Accepted: 01/04/2024] [Indexed: 01/15/2024] Open
Abstract
Shared-decision making is beneficial for the maintenance of group-living. However, little is known about whether consensus decision-making follows similar processes across different species. Addressing this question requires robust quantification of how individuals move relative to each other. Here we use high-resolution GPS-tracking of two vulturine guineafowl (Acryllium vulturinum) groups to test the predictions from a classic theoretical model of collective motion. We show that, in both groups, all individuals can successfully initiate directional movements, although males are more likely to be followed than females. When multiple group members initiate simultaneously, follower decisions depend on directional agreement, with followers compromising directions if the difference between them is small or choosing the majority direction if the difference is large. By aligning with model predictions and replicating the findings of a previous field study on olive baboons (Papio anubis), our results suggest that a common process governs collective decision-making in moving animal groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danai Papageorgiou
- University of Zurich, Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Department of Collective Behavior, Universitätsstraße 10, Konstanz, 78457, Germany.
- University of Konstanz, Department of Biology, Universitätsstraße 10, Konstanz, 78457, Germany.
- Kenya Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 40241-001000, Nairobi, Kenya.
- Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, College for Life Sciences, Wallotstrasse 19, Berlin, 14193, Germany.
| | - Brendah Nyaguthii
- University of Eldoret, School of Natural Resource Management, Department of Wildlife, 1125-30100, Eldoret, Kenya
- Mpala Research Centre, P.O. Box 92, Nanyuki, 10400, Kenya
- National Museums of Kenya, Department of Ornithology, P.O. Box 40658-001000, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Damien R Farine
- University of Zurich, Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Department of Collective Behavior, Universitätsstraße 10, Konstanz, 78457, Germany.
- National Museums of Kenya, Department of Ornithology, P.O. Box 40658-001000, Nairobi, Kenya.
- Australian National University, Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, 46 Sullivans Creek Road, Canberra, ACT, 2600, Australia.
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