Social behavior of captive, group-living Orangutans

1980 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara D. Edwards ◽  
Charles T. Snowdon
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Captive Group

scholarly journals Solitary bees reduce investment in communication compared with their social relatives

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (25) ◽  
pp. 6569-6574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernadette Wittwer ◽  
Abraham Hefetz ◽  
Tovit Simon ◽  
Li E. K. Murphy ◽  
Mark A. Elgar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Signal Perception ◽  
Eusocial Insects ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Solitary Living ◽  
Social Animals ◽  
Signal Production

Social animals must communicate to define group membership and coordinate social organization. For social insects, communication is predominantly mediated through chemical signals, and as social complexity increases, so does the requirement for a greater diversity of signals. This relationship is particularly true for advanced eusocial insects, including ants, bees, and wasps, whose chemical communication systems have been well-characterized. However, we know surprisingly little about how these communication systems evolve during the transition between solitary and group living. Here, we demonstrate that the sensory systems associated with signal perception are evolutionarily labile. In particular, we show that differences in signal production and perception are tightly associated with changes in social behavior in halictid bees. Our results suggest that social species require a greater investment in communication than their solitary counterparts and that species that have reverted from eusociality to solitary living have repeatedly reduced investment in these potentially costly sensory perception systems.

scholarly journals The season for peace: reconciliation in a despotic species (Lemur catta)

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabetta Palagi ◽  
Ivan Norscia
Keyword(s):  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Lemur Catta ◽  
Female Dominance ◽  
Captive Group ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Group Cooperation ◽  
In Captivity ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
The Right

However despotic a social group may be, managing conflicts of interest is crucial to preserve group living benefits, mainly based on cooperation. In fact, in despotic groups post-conflict management via reconciliation (the first post-conflict reunion between former opponents) can occur, even if at variable levels. In the despotic Lemur catta reconciliation was reported in one out of four captive groups. We used this species as a model to understand what variables influence the occurrence of the reconciliation in despotic groups. We analyzed 2339 PC-MC collected on eight groups (five in the Berenty forest, Madagascar; three hosted at the Pistoia Zoo, Italy). Since Lemur catta is characterized by rigid female dominance but show female-female coalitionary support, we expected to find reconciliation in the wild, other than in captivity. Consistently, we found the phenomenon to be present in one captive group and two wild groups, thus providing the first evidence of the presence of reconciliation in wild Lemur catta. Being this species a seasonal breeder (with mating occurring once a year), we expected that the season more than other variables (wild/captivity setting, rank, or individual features) would influence reconciliation levels. Via GLMM we found that the season was indeed the only variable significantly explaining reconciliation rates, lowest during mating and highest during the pregnancy period. We posit that reconciliation can be present in despotic species but not when the advantages of intra-group cooperation are annihilated by competition, as it occurs in seasonal breeders when reproduction is at stake. By comparing our results with literature, we conclude that in despotic social groups in which coalitions are observed, the right question is not if but when reconciliation can be present.

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