how does the another depict that even animal need to be sociable and frienally in order to be accepted in a group
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Animal social behaviour
WRITTEN BY
Walter Koenig See All Contributors
Adjunct Professor of Integrative Biology, University of California at Berkeley
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Alternative Title: group behaviour
ARTICLE CONTENTS
Animal social behaviour, the suite of interactions that occur between two or more individual animals, usually of the same species, when they form simple aggregations, cooperate in sexual or parental behaviour, engage in disputes over territory and access to mates, or simply communicate across space.
Serengeti National Park, Tanzania: herd of gnu (wildebeests)
Serengeti National Park, Tanzania: herd of gnu (wildebeests)
Herd of gnu (wildebeests) in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.
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Animal social behaviour
RELATED TOPICS
Reproductive behaviour
Animal communication
Aggressive behaviour
Avoidance behaviour
Learning
Display behaviour
Agonism
Caste
Territorial behaviour
Eusocial species
red deer: rutting season
red deer: rutting season
Two red deer (Cervus elaphus) battling for dominance during the rutting season.
Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz
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Social behaviour is defined by interaction, not by how organisms are distributed in space. Clumping of individuals is not a requirement for social behaviour, although it does increase opportunities for interaction. When a lone female moth emits a bouquet of pheromones to attract male potential mates, she is engaging in social behaviour. When a male red deer (Cervus elaphus) gives a loud roar to signal dominance and keep other males away, he is also being social.
Animal social behaviour has piqued the interest of animal behaviorists and evolutionary biologists, and it has also engaged the public, thanks to life science filmmakers who captured the drama and stunning diversity of animal social interactions in documentaries and other media programs.
General Characteristics
Social behaviour ranges from simple attraction between individuals to life in complex societies characterized by division of labour, cooperation, altruism, and a great many individuals aiding the reproduction of a relative few. The most widely recognized forms of social behaviour, however, involve interaction within aggregations or groups of individuals. Social behaviours, their adaptive value, and their underlying mechanisms are of primary interest to scientists in the fields of animal behaviour, behavioral ecology, evolutionary psychology, and biological anthropology.
Army ants (Eciton).
Army ants (Eciton).
Copyright Gary Retherford/Photo Researchers
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The word social often connotes amicable interaction, accounting for the common misconception that social behaviour always involves cooperation toward some mutually beneficial end. Biologists no longer believe that cooperative behaviours necessarily evolve for the good of the species. Instead, they believe that the unit of natural selection is usually the individual and that social behaviour is fraught with competition. English naturalist Charles Darwin, who first brought evolution by natural selection to the attention of the world, introduced this paradigm for thinking about social behaviour, noting that it is the best competitors within a species, the “fittest” individuals, that survive and reproduce. Once genetics was integrated into this concept of evolution, it became apparent that such individuals will transmit the most copies of their genes to future generations.
Consistent with Darwin’s ideas, social organisms are often seen to be fiercely competitive and aggressive. For example, friendly interactions among children on a playground can quickly dissolve into fierce competition if there are too few balls or swings. In addition, intense competitive interactions resulting in bodily harm can occur even among family members. Social behaviour is designed to enhance an individual’s ability to garner resources and form the alliances that help it to survive and to reproduce. The modern view of social behaviour is that it is a product of the competing interests of the individuals involved. Individuals evolve the capacity to behave selfishly and to cooperate or compete when it benefits them to do so. A delicate balance of cooperative and competitive behaviours is thus expected to characterize animal societies.
Categorizing the diversity of social behaviour
Social behaviour encompasses a wide variety of interactions, from temporary feeding aggregations or mating swarms to multigenerational family groups with cooperative brood care. Over the years, there have been many attempts to classify the diversity of social interactions and understand the evolutionary progression of social behaviour.