A robotic falcon induces similar collective escape responses in different bird species

Patterns of collective escape of a bird flock from a predator are fascinating, but difficult to study under natural conditions because neither prey nor predator is under experimental control. We resolved this problem by using an artificial predator (RobotFalcon) resembling a peregrine falcon in morphology and behaviour. We imitated hunts by chasing flocks of corvids, gulls, starlings and lapwings with the RobotFalcon, and compared their patterns of collective escape to those when chased by a conventional drone and, in case of starlings, hunted by wild peregrine falcons. Active pursuit of flocks, rather than only flying nearby by either the RobotFalcon or the drone, made flocks collectively escape more often. The RobotFalcon elicited patterns of collective escape in flocks of all species more often than the drone. Attack altitude did not affect the frequency of collective escape. Starlings escaped collectively equally often when chased by the RobotFalcon or a wild peregrine falcon. Flocks of all species reacted most often by collective turns, second most often by compacting and third by splitting into subflocks. This study demonstrates the potential of an artificial aerial predator for studying the collective escape behaviour of free-living birds, opening exciting avenues in the empirical study of prey-predator interactions.

Adult sex ratios and partial dominance of females over males in the rock hyrax

Competition in group-living animals often results in a dominance hierarchy. The sex that is larger (usually the males) generally dominates the one that is smaller (the females). In certain species, however, despite being smaller, the females dominate several males. Female dominance over males may here arise from the self-reinforcing effects of winning and losing fights, the so-called winner-loser effect, as demonstrated in the model DomWorld. In the model, females may become dominant over more males when the percentage of males in the group is higher due to the higher intensity of aggression of males than females combined with the higher frequency of male–male fights. This association between female dominance and the percentage of adult males in the group has been confirmed in several primate species. Since in the model DomWorld this association requires few assumptions, it should be tested beyond primates. In the present study, we investigated it in the group-living rock hyrax (Procavia capensis), because it fulfilled most requirements. We used data on adults from six groups, collected over 20 years in natural colonies in Israel. We confirmed that body weight and intensity of aggression was greater in males than females. Three measurements indicated that females dominated ca. 70% of the males. Unexpectedly, only in the data where groups comprised several males, female dominance over males was shown to increase with male percentage, but not when including (the many) years in which groups comprised a single male. We attribute this non significance to the limited male–male interactions. One of the requirements of DomWorld is that individuals live in permanent groups, but in rock hyrax there were also bachelor males, that were not permanently associated with a group. Thus, we expected and confirmed that there was no association between the percentage of males and female dominance over males when including them. In conclusion, our results support the hypothesis that the winner-loser effect contributes to the dominance of females over males, and the association between the percentage of males in a group and female dominance over males requires an extra criterion: that most groups contain multiple males.

How to measure intersexual dominance?

Intersexual dominance (dominance between the sexes) is often assumed to be binary with species categorized as either male- or female-dominant. Yet in many species, the degree of intersexual dominance falls somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. There are several measures of intersexual dominance, but in empirical studies, it is not possible to evaluate which is best because the real degree of intersexual dominance is unknown. This evaluation is possible, however, in the agent-based model, DomWorld, because individuals have internal dominance values that drive their agonistic behavior. In the present study, we defined the accuracy of measures of intersexual dominance in DomWorld by the strength of the correlation between the degree of intersexual dominance based on A) their internal dominance values and B) observations of their competitive interactions (similar to observations in empirical studies). We examined the four measures that have been most commonly used in the literature: the proportion of intersexual conflicts won and initiated, the Female Dominance Index, and the proportion of female-dominant dyads. The Female Dominance Index was highly accurate, possibly because it was based on the outcomes of intra- and intersexual conflicts, both of which influence an individual's dominance. The proportion of intersexual conflicts initiated was similar in its accuracy to the Female Dominance Index and it was the only measure to be unaffected by missing data. Measures were more accurate when groups were smaller, or the intensity of aggression was higher, but their accuracy did not depend on the degree of sexual dimorphism. To best represent dominance relations between the sexes, we recommend reporting both the Female Dominance Index and the proportion of intersexual conflicts initiated.

Male intrasexual aggression and partial dominance of females over males in vervet monkeys

Females dominate a subset of the males in a minority of mammalian species despite male-biased sexual dimorphism. How this may arise is suggested by a computational model, DomWorld. The model represents male-biased sexual dimorphism through the males’ greater initial dominance and higher intensity of aggression, meaning that fights initiated by males have a greater impact than those by females. The model shows that female dominance over males increases with a greater proportion of males in the group. This happens because when males are involved in a larger fraction of fights this results in greater hierarchical differentiation (i.e., steepness). This causes rank overlap between the sexes (i.e., partial female dominance). We test the validity of these processes in vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus pygerythrus), a primate species with partial female dominance. We confirm that the proportion of males in the group is significantly positively correlated with the degree of dominance by females over males and with the steepness of the hierarchy among males exclusively, but not with the steepness of the hierarchy among all adults of the group. The steepness in male hierarchies correlated positively with female dominance over males in these groups. We show that steeper hierarchies among vervet males resulted from male-to-male fights being a larger proportion of the fights among all adults of the group. We conclude that the higher frequency of male intrasexual aggression favors female dominance in vervet monkeys. We also show that females received coalitionary support when they were in conflict with a male, mainly from other females, and that this favors female dominance in this species, but this does not explain why partial female dominance increased with the proportion of males in the group. We advocate further investigation of the influence of male intrasexual aggression on the degree of female dominance over males in other species with partial female dominance.

Deterrence of birds with an artificial predator, the RobotFalcon

Collisions between birds and airplanes can damage aircrafts, resulting in delays and cancellation of flights, costing the international civil aviation industry more than 1.4 billion US dollars annually. Driving away birds is therefore crucial, but the effectiveness of current deterrence methods is limited. Live avian predators can be an effective deterrent, because potential prey will not habituate to them, but live predators cannot be controlled entirely. Thus, there is an urgent need for new deterrence methods. We developed the RobotFalcon, a device modelled after the peregrine falcon, and tested its effectiveness to deter flocks of corvids, gulls, starlings and lapwings. We compared its effectiveness with that of a drone, and of conventional methods routinely applied at a military airbase. The RobotFalcon scared away bird flocks from fields immediately, and these fields subsequently remained free of bird flocks for hours. The RobotFalcon outperformed the drone and the best conventional method at the airbase (distress calls). Importantly, there was no evidence that bird flocks habituated to the RobotFalcon over the course of the fieldwork. We conclude that the RobotFalcon is a practical and ethical solution to drive away bird flocks with all advantages of live predators but without their limitations.

Sex and dominance: How to assess and interpret intersexual dominance relationships in mammalian societies

The causes and consequences of being in a particular dominance position have been illuminated in various animal species, and new methods to assess dominance relationships and to describe the structure of dominance hierarchies have been developed in recent years. Most research has focused on same-sex relationships, however, so that intersexual dominance relationships and hierarchies including both sexes have remained much less studied. In particular, different methods continue to be employed to rank males and females along a dominance hierarchy, and sex biases in dominance are still widely regarded as simple byproducts of sexual size dimorphism. However, males and females regularly compete over similar resources when living in the same group, and sexual conflict takes a variety of forms across societies. These processes affect the fitness of both sexes, and are mitigated by intersexual hierarchies. In this study, we draw on data from free-ranging populations of nine species of mammals that vary in the degree to which members of one sex dominate members of the other sex to explore the consequences of using different criteria and procedures for describing intra- and intersexual dominance relationships in these societies. Our analyses confirmed a continuum in patterns of intersexual dominance, from strictly male-dominated species to strictly female-dominated species. All indices of the degree of female dominance were well correlated with each other. The rank order among same-sex individuals was highly correlated between the intra- and intersexual hierarchies, and such correlation was not affected by the degree of female dominance. The relative prevalence of aggression and submission was sensitive to variation in the degree of female dominance across species, with more submissive signals and fewer aggressive acts being used in societies where female dominance prevails. Thus, this study provides important insights and key methodological tools to study intersexual dominance relationships in mammals.

Emergence of splits and collective turns in pigeon flocks under predation

Complex patterns of collective behaviour may emerge through self-organization, from local interactions among individuals in a group. To understand what behavioural rules underlie these patterns, computational models are often necessary. These rules have not yet been systematically studied for bird flocks under predation. Here, we study airborne flocks of homing pigeons attacked by a robotic falcon, combining empirical data with a species-specific computational model of collective escape. By analysing GPS trajectories of flocking individuals, we identify two new patterns of collective escape: early splits and collective turns, occurring even at large distances from the predator. To examine their formation, we extend an agent-based model of pigeons with a 'discrete' escape manoeuvre by a single initiator, namely a sudden turn interrupting the continuous coordinated motion of the group. Both splits and collective turns emerge from this rule. Their relative frequency depends on the angular velocity and position of the initiator in the flock: sharp turns by individuals at the periphery lead to more splits than collective turns. We confirm this association in the empirical data. Our study highlights the importance of discrete and uncoordinated manoeuvres in the collective escape of bird flocks and advocates the systematic study of their patterns across species.

Self-organization of collective escape in pigeon flocks

Bird flocks under predation demonstrate complex patterns of collective escape. These patterns may emerge by self-organization from local interactions among group-members. Computational models have been shown to be valuable for identifying what behavioral rules may govern such interactions among individuals during collective motion. However, our knowledge of such rules for collective escape is limited by the lack of quantitative data on bird flocks under predation in the field. In the present study, we analyze the first GPS trajectories of pigeons in airborne flocks attacked by a robotic falcon in order to build a species-specific model of collective escape. We use our model to examine a recently identified distance-dependent pattern of collective behavior: the closer the prey is to the predator, the higher the frequency with which flock members turn away from it. We first extract from the empirical data of pigeon flocks the characteristics of their shape and internal structure (bearing angle and distance to nearest neighbors). Combining these with information on their coordination from the literature, we build an agent-based model adjusted to pigeons' collective escape. We show that the pattern of turning away from the predator with increased frequency when the predator is closer arises without prey prioritizing escape when the predator is near. Instead, it emerges through self-organization from a behavioral rule to avoid the predator independently of their distance to it. During this self-organization process, we show how flock members increase their consensus over which direction to escape and turn collectively as the predator gets closer. Our results suggest that coordination among flock members, combined with simple escape rules, reduces the cognitive costs of tracking the predator while flocking. Such escape rules that are independent of the distance to the predator can now be investigated in other species. Our study showcases the important role of computational models in the interpretation of empirical findings of collective behavior.

Female emancipation in a male dominant, sexually dimorphic primate under natural conditions

In most group-living animals, a dominance hierarchy reduces the costs of competition for limited resources. Dominance ranks may reflect prior attributes, such as body size, related to fighting ability or reflect the history of self-reinforcing effects of winning and losing a conflict (the winner-loser effect), or both. As to prior attributes, in sexually dimorphic species, where males are larger than females, males are assumed to be dominant over females. As to the winner-loser effect, the computational model DomWorld has shown that despite the female’s lower initial fighting ability, females achieve some degree of dominance of females over males. In the model, this degree of female dominance increases with the proportion of males in a group. This increase was supposed to emerge from the higher fraction of fights of males among themselves. These correlations were confirmed in despotic macaques, vervet monkeys, and in humans. Here, we first investigate this hypothesis in DomWorld and next in long-term data of 9,300 observation hours on six wild groups of robust capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus; S. nigritus, and S. xanthosternos) in three Brazilian sites. We test whether both the proportion of males and degree of female dominance over males are indeed associated with a higher relative frequency of aggression among males and a higher relative frequency of aggression of females to males. We confirm these correlations in DomWorld. Next, we confirm in empirical data of capuchin monkeys that with the proportion of males in the group there is indeed an increase in female dominance over males, and in the relative frequency of both male-male aggression and aggression of females to males and that the female dominance index is significantly positively associated with male male aggression. Our results reveal that adult sex ratio influences the power relation between the sexes beyond predictions from socioecological models.

The 2020 motile active matter roadmap

Activity and autonomous motion are fundamental in living and engineering systems. This has stimulated the new field of 'active matter' in recent years, which focuses on the physical aspects of propulsion mechanisms, and on motility-induced emergent collective behavior of a larger number of identical agents. The scale of agents ranges from nanomotors and microswimmers, to cells, fish, birds, and people. Inspired by biological microswimmers, various designs of autonomous synthetic nano- and micromachines have been proposed. Such machines provide the basis for multifunctional, highly responsive, intelligent (artificial) active materials, which exhibit emergent behavior and the ability to perform tasks in response to external stimuli. A major challenge for understanding and designing active matter is their inherent nonequilibrium nature due to persistent energy consumption, which invalidates equilibrium concepts such as free energy, detailed balance, and time-reversal symmetry. Unraveling, predicting, and controlling the behavior of active matter is a truly interdisciplinary endeavor at the interface of biology, chemistry, ecology, engineering, mathematics, and physics. The vast complexity of phenomena and mechanisms involved in the self-organization and dynamics of motile active matter comprises a major challenge. Hence, to advance, and eventually reach a comprehensive understanding, this important research area requires a concerted, synergetic approach of the various disciplines. The 2020 motile active matter roadmap of Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter addresses the current state of the art of the field and provides guidance for both students as well as established scientists in their efforts to advance this fascinating area.

Social conformity and propagation of information in collective U-turns of fish schools

Moving animal groups such as schools of fishes or flocks of birds often undergo sudden collective changes of their travelling direction as a consequence of stochastic fluctuations in heading of the individuals. However, the mechanisms by which these behavioural fluctuations arise at the individual level and propagate within a group are still unclear. In this study, we combine an experimental and theoretical approach to investigate spontaneous collective U-turns in groups of rummy-nose tetra (Hemigrammus rhodostomus) swimming in a ring-shaped tank. U-turns imply that fish switch their heading between the clockwise and anticlockwise direction. We reconstruct trajectories of individuals moving alone and in groups of different sizes. We show that the group decreases its swimming speed before a collective U-turn. This is in agreement with previous theoretical predictions showing that speed decrease facilitates an amplification of fluctuations in heading in the group, which can trigger U-turns. These collective U-turns are mostly initiated by individuals at the front of the group. Once an individual has initiated a U-turn, the new direction propagates through the group from front to back without amplification or dampening, resembling the dynamics of falling dominoes. The mean time between collective U-turns sharply increases as the size of the group increases. We develop an Ising spin model integrating anisotropic and asymmetrical interactions between fish and their tendency to follow the majority of their neighbours nonlinearly (social conformity). The model quantitatively reproduces key features of the dynamics and the frequency of collective U-turns observed in experiments.

Sexual size dimorphism, prey morphology and catch success in relation to flight mechanics in the peregrine falcon: a simulation study

In common with many other raptors, female peregrine falcons Falco peregrinus are about 50% heavier than males. Their sexual dimorphism is thought to allow breeding pairs to exploit a wider range of prey through a division of labor: the male being able to catch more maneuverable prey species; the female capable of carrying larger ones. Given the difficulty of assessing the catch success and load carrying capacity of both sexes of falcon in the field, we here adopt a novel approach to test the division-of-labor theory by using a detailed physics-based flight simulator of birds. We study attacks by male and female peregrines on prey species ranging from small passerines to large ducks, testing how catch success relates to the flight performance of predator and prey. Males prove to be better than females at catching highly maneuverable prey in level flight, but the catch success of both sexes improves and becomes more similar when diving, because of the higher aerodynamic forces that are available to both sexes for maneuvering in high-speed flight. The higher maximum roll acceleration of the male peregrine explains its edge over the female in catching maneuverable prey in level flight. Overall, catch success is more strongly influenced by the differences in maneuverability that exist between different species of prey than between the different sexes of falcon. On the other hand, the female can carry up to 50% greater loads than the male. More generally, our detailed simulation approach highlights the importance of several previously overlooked features of attack and escape. In particular, we find that it is not the prey's instantaneous maximum centripetal acceleration but the prey's ability to sustain a high centripetal acceleration for an extended period of time that is the primary driver of the variation in catch success across species.

Young macaques (Macaca fascicularis) preferentially bias attention towards closer, older, and better tool users

Examining how animals direct social learning during skill acquisition under natural conditions, generates data for examining hypotheses regarding how transmission biases influence cultural change in animal populations. We studied a population of macaques on Koram Island, Thailand, and examined model-based biases during interactions by unskilled individuals with tool-using group members. We first compared the prevalence of interactions (watching, obtaining food, object exploration) and proximity to tool users during interactions, in developing individuals (infants, juveniles) versus mature non-learners (adolescents, adults), to provide evidence that developing individuals are actively seeking information about tool use from social partners. All infants and juveniles, but only 49% of mature individuals carried out interacted with tool users. Macaques predominantly obtained food by scrounging or stealing, suggesting maximizing scrounging opportunities motivates interactions with tool users. However, while interactions by adults was limited to obtaining food, young macaques and particularly infants also watched tool users and explored objects, indicating additional interest in tool use itself. We then ran matrix correlations to identify interaction biases, and what attributes of tool users influenced these. Biases correlated with social affiliation, but macaques also preferentially targeted tool users that potentially increase scrounging and learning opportunities. Results suggest that social structure may constrain social learning, but the motivation to bias interactions towards tool users to maximize feeding opportunities may also socially modulate learning by facilitating close proximity to better tool users, and further interest in tool-use actions and materials, especially during development.

Physics-based simulations of aerial attacks by peregrine falcons reveal that stooping at high speed maximizes catch success against agile prey

The peregrine falcon Falco peregrinus is renowned for attacking its prey from high altitude in a fast controlled dive called a stoop. Many other raptors employ a similar mode of attack, but the functional benefits of stooping remain obscure. Here we investigate whether, when, and why stooping promotes catch success, using a three-dimensional, agent-based modeling approach to simulate attacks of falcons on aerial prey. We simulate avian flapping and gliding flight using an analytical quasi-steady model of the aerodynamic forces and moments, parametrized by empirical measurements of flight morphology. The model-birds’ flight control inputs are commanded by their guidance system, comprising a phenomenological model of its vision, guidance, and control. To intercept its prey, model-falcons use the same guidance law as missiles (pure proportional navigation); this assumption is corroborated by empirical data on peregrine falcons hunting lures. We parametrically vary the falcon’s starting position relative to its prey, together with the feedback gain of its guidance loop, under differing assumptions regarding its errors and delay in vision and control, and for three different patterns of prey motion. We find that, when the prey maneuvers erratically, high-altitude stoops increase catch success compared to low-altitude attacks, but only if the falcon’s guidance law is appropriately tuned, and only given a high degree of precision in vision and control. Remarkably, the optimal tuning of the guidance law in our simulations coincides closely with what has been observed empirically in peregrines. High-altitude stoops are shown to be beneficial because their high airspeed enables production of higher aerodynamic forces for maneuvering, and facilitates higher roll agility as the wings are tucked, each of which is essential to catching maneuvering prey at realistic response delays.

Peregrine falcons are famed for their high-speed, high-altitude stoops. Hunting prey at perhaps the highest speed of any animal places a stooping falcon under extraordinary physical, physiological, and cognitive demands, yet it remains unknown how this behavioural strategy promotes catch success. Because the behavioral aspects of stooping are intimately related to its biomechanical constraints, we address this question through an embodied cognition approach. We model the falcon’s cognition using guidance laws inspired by theory and experiment, and embody this in a physics-based simulation of predator and prey flight. Stooping maximizes catch success against agile prey by minimizing roll inertia and maximizing the aerodynamic forces available for maneuvering, but requires a tightly tuned guidance law, and exquisitely precise vision and control.

Female Dominance in Human Groups

Compared to men, women less often attain high-level positions and generally have lower status in society. In smaller groups, the relative influence of men and women depends on gender composition, but research is inconclusive regarding the relation between gender composition and female influence. Studies of nonhuman primates show that when females are in the minority they become more dominant over males, but only when conflict levels are high, because under these conditions men fight among each other. Similarly, here we show, in two studies with mixed gender groups ( N = 90 and N = 56), that women were more dominant in groups with a high percentage of men and high levels of conflict. This depends on gender differences in aggressive behavior, inducing more aggressive behavior in women eliminated this increase in female dominance. Our work reveals that status relations between the genders among nonhuman primates can generalize to humans.

Early maternal loss affects social integration of chimpanzees throughout their lifetime

The long-term effects of early adverse experiences on later psychosocial functioning are well described in humans, but sparsely documented for chimpanzees. In our earlier studies, we investigated the effects of maternal and social deprivation on three groups of ex-laboratory chimpanzees who experienced either an early or later onset of long-term deprivation. Here we expand our research by adding data on subjects that came from two stable zoo groups. The groups comprised of early maternally deprived wild-caught chimpanzees and non-deprived zoo-born chimpanzees. We found that compared to zoo chimpanzees, ex-laboratory chimpanzees were more restricted regarding their association partners in the newly formed groups, but not during their second year of group-life, indicating that social stability has an important influence on the toleration of association partners close-by. Social grooming activity, however, was impaired in early long-term deprived ex-laboratory chimpanzees as well as in early maternally deprived zoo chimpanzees compared to non-deprived zoo chimpanzees. Thus, we conclude that early maternal loss has lifelong effects on the social integration of chimpanzees which becomes evident in their grooming networks. Although the retrospective nature of our study prevents a clear causal explanation, our results are of importance for understanding the development of social competence in chimpanzees.

"Targeting or supporting, what drives patterns of aggressive intervention in fights?"

GrooFiWorld is an individual-based, computational model of social interactions that can be used to examine factors underlying reciprocation and interchange of social behavior in primate societies. Individuals within GrooFiWorld are programed to maintain spatial proximity and thereby form a group. When an individual encounters another individual in its proximity, the individual attacks the other if the risk of losing is low. Otherwise, the individual considers grooming the other. Patterns of social behavior that emerge in the model resemble empirical data from primates. Triadic aggression emerges when an individual attacks one of the former combatants by chance immediately after an aggressive interaction, and reciprocation and interchange of grooming and support emerge even though individuals have no intention to help others or pay back services. The model generates predictions for patterns of contra-intervention that are counterintuitive within a framework of interchange of social services, such as that individuals receive more contra-intervention from those whom they groom more frequently. Here we tested these predictions in data collected on social interactions in a group of bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata). We confirmed the predictions of the model in the sense that contra-intervention was strongly correlated with dyadic aggression which suggests that contra-intervention is a subset of dyadic aggression. Adult females directed more contra-intervention to those individuals from whom they received more grooming. Further, contra-intervention was directed down the dominance hierarchy such that adult females received more contra-intervention from higher ranking females. Because these findings are consistent with the predictions from the GrooFiWorld model, they suggest that the distribution of interventions in fights is regulated by factors such as dominance rank and spatial structure rather than a motivation to help others and interchange social services.

Diffusion and topological neighbours in flocks of starlings: relating a model to empirical data

Moving in a group while avoiding collisions with group members causes internal dynamics in the group. Although these dynamics have recently been measured quantitatively in starling flocks (Sturnus vulgaris), it is unknown what causes them. Computational models have shown that collective motion in groups is likely due to attraction, avoidance and, possibly, alignment among group members. Empirical studies show that starlings adjust their movement to a fixed number of closest neighbours or topological range, namely 6 or 7 and assume that each of the three activities is done with the same number of neighbours (topological range). Here, we start from the hypothesis that escape behavior is more effective at preventing collisions in a flock when avoiding the single closest neighbor than compromising by avoiding 6 or 7 of them. For alignment and attraction, we keep to the empirical topological range. We investigate how avoiding one or several neighbours affects the internal dynamics of flocks of starlings in our computational model StarDisplay. By comparing to empirical data, we confirm that internal dynamics resemble empirical data more closely if flock members avoid merely their single, closest neighbor. Our model shows that considering a different number of interaction partners per activity represents a useful perspective and that changing a single parameter, namely the number of interaction partners that are avoided, has several effects through selforganisation.

What underlies waves of agitation in starling flocks

Fast transfer of information in groups can have survival value. An example is the so-called wave of agitation observed in groups of animals of several taxa under attack. It has been shown to reduce predator success. It usually involves the repetition of a manoeuvre throughout the group, transmitting the information of the attack quickly, faster than the group moves itself. The specific manoeuvre underlying a wave is typically known, but not so in starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). Although waves of agitation in starling flocks have been suggested to reflect density waves, exact escape manoeuvres cannot be distinguished because flocks are spatially too far away. Therefore, waves may also reflect orientation waves (due to escape by rolling). In the present study, we investigate this issue in a computational model, StarDisplay. We use this model because its flocks have been shown to resemble starling flocks in many traits. In the model, we show that agitation waves result from changes in orientation rather than in density. They resemble empirical data both qualitatively in visual appearance and quantitatively in wave speed. In the model, local interactions with only two to seven closest neighbours suffice to generate empirical wave speed. Wave speed increases with the number of neighbours mimicked or repeated from and the distance to them. It decreases with reaction time and with time to identify the escape manoeuvre of others and is not affected by flock size. Our findings can be used as predictions for empirical studies.

A novel mechanism for a survival advantage of vigilant individuals in groups

In many animal species, vigilance is crucial for avoiding predation. In groups, however, nonvigilant individuals could benefit from the vigilance of others without any of the associated costs. In an evolutionary sense, such exploitation may be compensated if vigilant individuals have a survival advantage. The novelty in our model is that the probability to detect a predator is "distance dependent." We show that even if nonvigilant individuals benefit fully from information produced by vigilant individuals, vigilant individuals nevertheless enjoy a survival advantage. This happens because detection of predators is more likely when vigilant individuals happen to be targets of predation. We expect this distance-dependent mechanism to be compatible with previously reported mechanisms.

Fewer invited talks by women in evolutionary biology symposia

Lower visibility of female scientists, compared to male scientists, is a potential reason for the under-representation of women among senior academic ranks. Visibility in the scientific community stems partly from presenting research as an invited speaker at organized meetings. We analysed the sex ratio of presenters at the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) Congress 2011, where all abstract submissions were accepted for presentation. Women were under-represented among invited speakers at symposia (15% women) compared to all presenters (46%), regular oral presenters (41%) and plenary speakers (25%). At the ESEB congresses in 2001–2011, 9–23% of invited speakers were women. This under-representation of women is partly attributable to a larger proportion of women, than men, declining invitations: in 2011, 50% of women declined an invitation to speak compared to 26% of men. We expect invited speakers to be scientists from top ranked institutions or authors of recent papers in high-impact journals. Considering all invited speakers (including declined invitations), 23% were women. This was lower than the baseline sex ratios of early-mid career stage scientists, but was similar to senior scientists and authors that have published in high-impact journals. High-quality science by women therefore has low exposure at international meetings, which will constrain Evolutionary Biology from reaching its full potential. We wish to highlight the wider implications of turning down invitations to speak, and encourage conference organizers to implement steps to increase acceptance rates of invited talks.

Schools of fish and flocks of birds: their shape and internal structure by self-organization

Models of self-organization have proved useful in revealing what processes may underlie characteristics of swarms. In this study, we review model-based explanations for aspects of the shape and internal structure of groups of fish and of birds travelling undisturbed (without predator threat). Our models attribute specific collective traits to locomotory properties. Fish slow down to avoid collisions and swim at a constant depth, whereas birds fly at low variability of speed and lose altitude during turning. In both the models of fish and birds, the 'bearing angle' to the nearest neighbour emerges as a side-effect of the 'blind angle' behind individuals and when group size becomes larger, temporary subgroups may increase the complexity of group shape and internal structure. We discuss evidence for model-based predictions and provide a list of new predictions to be tested empirically.

An individual-oriented model on the emergence of support in fights, its reciprocation and exchange

Complex social behaviour of primates has usually been attributed to the operation of complex cognition. Recently, models have shown that constraints imposed by the socio-spatial structuring of individuals in a group may result in an unexpectedly high number of patterns of complex social behaviour, resembling the dominance styles of egalitarian and despotic species of macaques and the differences between them. This includes affiliative patterns, such as reciprocation of grooming, grooming up the hierarchy, and reconciliation. In the present study, we show that the distribution of support in fights, which is the social behaviour that is potentially most sophisticated in terms of cognitive processes, may emerge in the same way. The model represents the spatial grouping of individuals and their social behaviour, such as their avoidance of risks during attacks, the self-reinforcing effects of winning and losing their fights, their tendency to join in fights of others that are close by (social facilitation), their tendency to groom when they are anxious, the reduction of their anxiety by grooming, and the increase of anxiety when involved in aggression. Further, we represent the difference in intensity of aggression apparent in egalitarian and despotic macaques. The model reproduces many aspects of support in fights, such as its different types, namely, conservative, bridging and revolutionary, patterns of choice of coalition partners attributed to triadic awareness, those of reciprocation of support and 'spiteful acts' and of exchange between support and grooming. This work is important because it suggests that behaviour that seems to result from sophisticated cognition may be a side-effect of spatial structure and dominance interactions and it shows that partial correlations fail to completely omit these effects of spatial structure. Further, the model is falsifiable, since it results in many patterns that can easily be tested in real primates by means of existing data.

Corvid re-caching without 'theory of mind': a model

Scrub jays are thought to use many tactics to protect their caches. For instance, they predominantly bury food far away from conspecifics, and if they must cache while being watched, they often re-cache their worms later, once they are in private. Two explanations have been offered for such observations, and they are intensely debated. First, the birds may reason about their competitors' mental states, with a 'theory of mind'; alternatively, they may apply behavioral rules learned in daily life. Although this second hypothesis is cognitively simpler, it does seem to require a different, ad-hoc behavioral rule for every caching and re-caching pattern exhibited by the birds. Our new theory avoids this drawback by explaining a large variety of patterns as side-effects of stress and the resulting memory errors. Inspired by experimental data, we assume that re-caching is not motivated by a deliberate effort to safeguard specific caches from theft, but by a general desire to cache more. This desire is brought on by stress, which is determined by the presence and dominance of onlookers, and by unsuccessful recovery attempts. We study this theory in two experiments similar to those done with real birds with a kind of 'virtual bird', whose behavior depends on a set of basic assumptions about corvid cognition, and a well-established model of human memory. Our results show that the 'virtual bird' acts as the real birds did; its re-caching reflects whether it has been watched, how dominant its onlooker was, and how close to that onlooker it has cached. This happens even though it cannot attribute mental states, and it has only a single behavioral rule assumed to be previously learned. Thus, our simulations indicate that corvid re-caching can be explained without sophisticated social cognition. Given our specific predictions, our theory can easily be tested empirically.

Fluid dynamics of moving fish in a two-dimensional multiparticle collision dynamics model

The fluid dynamics of animal locomotion, such as that of an undulating fish, are of great interest to both biologists and engineers. However, experimentally studying these fluid dynamics is difficult and time consuming. Model studies can be of great help because of their simpler and more detailed analysis. Their insights may guide empirical work. Particularly the recently introduced multiparticle collision dynamics method may be suitable for the study of moving organisms because it is computationally fast, simple to implement, and has a continuous representation of space. As regards the study of hydrodynamics of moving organisms, the method has only been applied at low Reynolds numbers (below 120) for soft, permeable bodies, and static fishlike shapes. In the present paper we use it to study the hydrodynamics of an undulating fish at Reynolds numbers 1100-1500, after confirming its performance for a moving insect wing at Reynolds number 75. We measure (1) drag, thrust, and lift forces, (2) swimming efficiency and spatial structure of the wake, and (3) distribution of forces along the fish body. We confirm the resemblance between the simulated undulating fish and empirical data. In contrast to theoretical predictions, our model shows that for steadily undulating fish, thrust is produced by the rear 2/3 of the body and that the slip ratio U/V (with U the forward swimming speed and V the rearward speed of the body wave) correlates negatively (instead of positively) with the actual Froude efficiency of swimming. Besides, we show that the common practice of modeling individuals while constraining their sideways acceleration causes them to resemble unconstrained fish with a higher tailbeat frequency.

Corvid caching: Insights from a cognitive model

Caching and recovery of food by corvids is well-studied, but some ambiguous results remain. To help clarify these, we built a computational cognitive model. It is inspired by similar models built for humans, and it assumes that memory strength depends on frequency and recency of use. We compared our model's behavior to that of real birds in previously published experiments. Our model successfully replicated the outcomes of two experiments on recovery behavior and two experiments on cache site choice. Our "virtual birds" reproduced declines in recovery accuracy across sessions, revisits to previously emptied cache sites, a lack of correlation between caching and recovery order, and a preference for caching in safe locations. The model also produced two new explanations. First, that Clark's nutcrackers may become less accurate as recovery progresses not because of differential memory for different cache sites, as was once assumed, but because of chance effects. And second, that Western scrub jays may choose their cache sites not on the basis of negative recovery experiences only, as was previously thought, but on the basis of positive recovery experiences instead. Alternatively, both "punishment" and "reward" may be playing a role. We conclude with a set of new insights, a testable prediction, and directions for future work.

Some causes of the variable shape of flocks of birds

Flocks of birds are highly variable in shape in all contexts (while travelling, avoiding predation, wheeling above the roost). Particularly amazing in this respect are the aerial displays of huge flocks of starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) above the sleeping site at dawn. The causes of this variability are hardly known, however. Here we hypothesise that variability of shape increases when there are larger local differences in movement behaviour in the flock. We investigate this hypothesis with the help of a model of the self-organisation of travelling groups, called StarDisplay, since such a model has also increased our understanding of what causes the oblong shape of schools of fish. The flocking patterns in the model prove to resemble those of real birds, in particular of starlings and rock doves. As to shape, we measure the relative proportions of the flock in several ways, which either depend on the direction of movement or do not. We confirm that flock shape is usually more variable when local differences in movement in the flock are larger. This happens when a) flock size is larger, b) interacting partners are fewer, c) the flock turnings are stronger, and d) individuals roll into the turn. In contrast to our expectations, when variability of speed in the flock is higher, flock shape and the positions of members in the flock are more static. We explain this and indicate the adaptive value of low variability of speed and spatial restriction of interaction and develop testable hypotheses.

Boldness by habituation and social interactions: a model

Most studies of animal personality attribute personality to genetic traits. But a recent study by Magnhagen and Staffan (Behav Ecol Sociobiol 57:295–303, 2005) on young perch in small groups showed that boldness, a central personality trait, is also shaped by social interactions and by previous experience. The authors measured boldness by recording the duration that an individual spent near a predator and the speed with which it fed there. They found that duration near the predator increased over time and was higher the higher the average boldness of other group members. In addition, the feeding rate of shy individuals was reduced if other members of the same group were bold. The authors supposed that these behavioral dynamics were caused by genetic differences, social interactions, and habituation to the predator. However, they did not quantify exactly how this could happen. In the present study, we therefore use an agent-based model to investigate whether these three factors may explain the empirical findings. We choose an agent-based model because this type of model is especially suited to study the relation between behavior at an individual level and behavioral dynamics at a group level. In our model, individuals were either hiding in vegetation or feeding near a predator, whereby their behavior was affected by habituation and by two social mechanisms: social facilitation to approach the predator and competition over food. We show that even if we start the model with identical individuals, these three mechanisms were sufficient to reproduce the behavioral dynamics of the empirical study, including the consistent differences among individuals. Moreover, if we start the model with individuals that already differ in boldness, the behavioral dynamics produced remained the same. Our results indicate the importance of previous experience and social interactions when studying animal personality empirically.

Emergent patterns of social affiliation in primates, a model

Many patterns of affiliative behaviour have been described for primates, for instance: reciprocation and exchange of grooming, grooming others of similar rank, reconciliation of fights, and preferential reconciliation with more valuable partners. For these patterns several functions and underlying cognitive processes have been suggested. It is, however, difficult to imagine how animals may combine these diverse considerations in their mind. Although the co-variation hypothesis, by limiting the social possibilities an individual has, constrains the number of cognitive considerations an individual has to take, it does not present an integrated theory of affiliative patterns either. In the present paper, after surveying patterns of affiliation in egalitarian and despotic macaques, we use an individual-based model with a high potential for self-organisation as a starting point for such an integrative approach. In our model, called GrooFiWorld, individuals group and, upon meeting each other, may perform a dominance interaction of which the outcomes of winning and losing are self-reinforcing. Besides, if individuals think they will be defeated, they consider grooming others. Here, the greater their anxiety is, the greater their "motivation" to groom others. Our model generates patterns similar to many affiliative patterns of empirical data. By merely increasing the intensity of aggression, affiliative patterns in the model change from those resembling egalitarian macaques to those resembling despotic ones. Our model produces such patterns without assuming in the mind of the individual the specific cognitive processes that are usually thought to underlie these patterns (such as recordkeeping of the acts given and received, a tendency to exchange, memory of the former fight, selective attraction to the former opponent, and estimation of the value of a relationship). Our model can be used as a null model to increase our understanding of affiliative behaviour among primates, in particular macaques.

Flow around fishlike shapes studied using multiparticle collision dynamics

Empirical measurements of hydrodynamics of swimming fish are very difficult. Therefore, modeling studies may be of great benefit. Here, we investigate the suitability for such a study of a recently developed mesoscale method, namely, multiparticle collision dynamics. As a first step, we confine ourselves to investigations at intermediate Reynolds numbers of objects that are stiff. Due to the lack of empirical data on the hydrodynamics of stiff fishlike shapes we use a previously published numerical simulation of the shapes of a fish and a tadpole for comparison. Because the shape of a tadpole resembles that of a circle with an attached splitter plate, we exploit the knowledge on hydrodynamic consequences of such an attachment to test the model further and study the effects of splitter plates for objects of several shapes at several Reynolds numbers. Further, we measure the angles of separation of flow around a circular cylinder and make small adjustments to the boundary condition and the method to drive the flow. Our results correspond with empirical data and with results from other models.

Female dominance over males in primates: self-organisation and sexual dimorphism

The processes that underlie the formation of the dominance hierarchy in a group are since long under debate. Models of self-organisation suggest that dominance hierarchies develop by the self-reinforcing effects of winning and losing fights (the so-called winner-loser effect), but according to 'the prior attribute hypothesis', dominance hierarchies develop from pre-existing individual differences, such as in body mass. In the present paper, we investigate the relevance of each of these two theories for the degree of female dominance over males. We investigate this in a correlative study in which we compare female dominance between groups of 22 species throughout the primate order. In our study female dominance may range from 0 (no female dominance) to 1 (complete female dominance). As regards 'the prior attribute hypothesis', we expected a negative correlation between female dominance over males and species-specific sexual dimorphism in body mass. However, to our surprise we found none (we use the method of independent contrasts). Instead, we confirm the self-organisation hypothesis: our model based on the winner-loser effect predicts that female dominance over males increases with the percentage of males in the group. We confirm this pattern at several levels in empirical data (among groups of a single species and between species of the same genus and of different ones). Since the winner-loser effect has been shown to work in many taxa including humans, these results may have broad implications.

Reconciliation and relationship quality in Assamese macaques (Macaca assamensis)

A consistent conclusion in reconciliation research is that animals that reconcile are likely to have strong social bonds. This has led to the hypothesis that reconciliation occurs most often between valuable social partners. We tested this hypothesis in a group of Assamese macaques (Macaca assamensis) living near a temple in Assam, India. Using focal sample and ad libitum data collection, we recorded the occurrence of reconciliation, grooming, and agonistic aiding, and the outcomes of approach. We used matrix association methods (TauKr correlation) to correlate reconciliation with grooming, aiding, and approach outcome. Females reconciled more often with females with which they had stronger grooming and aiding relationships. The correlation between reconciliation and aiding was significant for support to the aggressor and the victim. In contrast, no such correlations with reconciliation were found for males. This study provides evidence that females reconcile most often with valuable and compatible social partners. The results do not support the relationship-quality hypothesis for males, and we suggest that future studies give more consideration to the possibility that males reconcile for reasons other than to repair relationships with valuable partners.

Problems of allometric scaling analysis: examples from mammalian reproductive biology

Biological scaling analyses employing the widely used bivariate allometric model are beset by at least four interacting problems: (1) choice of an appropriate best-fit line with due attention to the influence of outliers; (2)objective recognition of divergent subsets in the data (allometric grades);(3) potential restrictions on statistical independence resulting from phylogenetic inertia; and (4) the need for extreme caution in inferring causation from correlation. A new non-parametric line-fitting technique has been developed that eliminates requirements for normality of distribution,greatly reduces the influence of outliers and permits objective recognition of grade shifts in substantial datasets. This technique is applied in scaling analyses of mammalian gestation periods and of neonatal body mass in primates. These analyses feed into a re-examination, conducted with partial correlation analysis, of the maternal energy hypothesis relating to mammalian brain evolution, which suggests links between body size and brain size in neonates and adults, gestation period and basal metabolic rate. Much has been made of the potential problem of phylogenetic inertia as a confounding factor in scaling analyses. However, this problem may be less severe than suspected earlier because nested analyses of variance conducted on residual variation(rather than on raw values) reveals that there is considerable variance at low taxonomic levels. In fact, limited divergence in body size between closely related species is one of the prime examples of phylogenetic inertia. One common approach to eliminating perceived problems of phylogenetic inertia in allometric analyses has been calculation of `independent contrast values'. It is demonstrated that the reasoning behind this approach is flawed in several ways. Calculation of contrast values for closely related species of similar body size is, in fact, highly questionable, particularly when there are major deviations from the best-fit line for the scaling relationship under scrutiny.

Individual variation by self-organisation

In this paper, we show that differences in dominance and spatial centrality of individuals in a group may arise through self-organisation. Our instrument is a model, called DomWorld, that represents two traits that are often found in animals, namely grouping and competing. In this model individual differences grow under the following conditions: (1) when the intensity of aggression increases and grouping becomes denser, (2) when the degree of sexual dimorphism in fighting power increases. In this case the differences among females compared to males grow too, (3) when, upon encountering another individual, the tendency to attack is 'obligate' and not conditional, namely 'sensitive to risks'. Results resemble phenomena described for societies of primates, mice, birds and pigs.

Artificial fish schools: collective effects of school size, body size, and body form

Individual-based models of schooling in fish have demonstrated that, via processes of self-organization, artificial fish may school in the absence of a leader or external stimuli, using local information only. We study for the first time how body size and body form of artificial fish affect school formation in such a model. For a variety of group sizes we describe how school characteristics (i.e., group form, spread, density, polarization, turning rate, and speed) depend on body characteristics. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the nearest neighbor distance and turning rate of individuals are different for different regions in the group, although the agents are completely identical. Our approach shows the significance of both self-organization and embodiment in modeling of schools of artificial fish and, probably, in structuring schools of real fish.

Self-organization and natural selection in the evolution of complex despotic societies

Differences between related species are usually explained as separate adaptations produced by individual selection. I discuss in this paper how related species, which differ in many respects, may evolve by a combination of individual selection, self-organization, and group-selection, requiring an evolutionary adaptation of only a single trait. In line with the supposed evolution of despotic species of macaques, we take as a starting point an ancestral species that is egalitarian and mildly aggressive. We suppose it to live in an environment with abundant food and we put the case that, if food becomes scarce and more clumped, natural selection at the level of the individual will favor individuals with a more intense aggression (implying, for instance, biting and fierce fighting). Using an individual-centered model, called DomWorld, I show what happens when the intensity of aggression increases. In DomWorld, group life is represented by artificial individuals that live in a homogeneous world. Individuals are extremely simple: all they do is flock together and, upon meeting one another, they may perform dominance interactions in which the effects of winning and losing are self-reinforcing. When the intensity of aggression in the model is increased, a complex feedback between the hierarchy and spatial structure results; via self-organization, this feedback causes the egalitarian society to change into a despotic one. The many differences between the two types of artificial society closely correspond to those between despotic and egalitarian macaques in the real world. Given that, in the model, the organization changes as a side effect of the change of one single trait proper to an egalitarian society, in the real world a despotic society may also have arisen as a side effect of the mutation of a single trait of an egalitarian species. If groups with different intensities of aggression evolve in this way, they will also have different gradients of hierarchy. When food is scarce, groups with the steepest hierarchy may have the best chance to survive, because at least a small number of individuals in such a group may succeed in producing offspring, whereas in egalitarian societies every individual is at risk of being insufficiently fed to reproduce. Therefore, intrademic group selection (selection within an interbreeding group) may have contributed to the evolution of despotic societies.

Towards the integration of social dominance and spatial structure

My aim was to show how individual-oriented (or artificial life) models may provide an integrative background for the development of theories about dominance by including effects of spatial structure. Dominance interactions are thought to serve two different, contrasting functions: acquisition of high rank and reduction of aggression. The model I present consists of a homogeneous virtual world inhabited by artificial agents whose actions are restricted to grouping and dominance interactions in which the effects of winning and losing are self-reinforcing. The two functions are implemented as strategies to initiate dominance interactions and the intensity of aggression and dominance perception (direct or memory based) are varied experimentally. Behaviour is studied by recording the same behavioural units as in real animals. Ranks appear to differentiate more clearly at high than at low intensity of aggression and also more in the case of direct than of memory-based rank perception. Strong differentiation of rank produces a cascade of unexpected effects that differ depending on which function is implemented: for instance, a decline in aggression, spatial centrality of dominants and a correlation between rank and aggression. Insight into the origination of these self-organized patterns leads to new hypotheses for the study of the social behaviour of real animals. Copyright 2000 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

'Friendship' for fitness in chimpanzees?

It has been repeatedly suggested that primates trade social services for fitness benefits in their relationships with the opposite sex. We tested this proposal in a colony of captive chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, by examining behavioural data on grooming, agonistic support and food sharing in relation to genetically established paternity. We found no support for the notion of trade. First, males did not sire more offspring with females that they actively groomed more frequently, that they supported more often or with which they shared food more frequently. Correspondingly, females did not give birth to more offspring sired by males from which they received more services. Second, males that showed more affiliative behaviour towards females in general did not sire more progeny. Furthermore, females did not bear more offspring sired by males to which they themselves directed more sociopositive behaviour. Results from this captive colony are compatible with those reported for chimpanzees under natural conditions. Copyright 1999 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.