psy: Pack hunter

Evidence: 54 • authority: 88

Social Behavior and Sociality. Forms of Social Behavior Mutual Benefit Altruism and Reciprocity Selfishness and Spite The Evolution of Cooperative Breeding Direct versus Indirect Benefits Costs of Breeding Cooperatively Individual Differences in Cooperative Behavior Reproductive Conflict Social Organization and Reproductive Skew Reproductive Suppression and Senescence

Evidence: 54 • authority: 92

The Social Relevance of Numbers: Insights from Animal Studies.. Number processing offers significant adaptive advantages, enabling animals to navigate their environment and maximize survival outcomes. Extensive evidence across species demonstrates that numerical cognition is a ubiquitous cognitive trait that enhances fitness by supporting critical behaviors such as foraging, hunting, and intergroup conflict. In this review, we examine the evolutionary and developmental roots of numerical cognition, focusing on its functional role in social contexts. First, we report research findings on the use of numerical information in various social behaviors among a wide range of animals. Then, we disc…

Evidence: 54 • authority: 72

Primate sociality is an area of primatology that aims to study the interactions between three main elements of a primate social network: the social organisation, the social structure and the mating system. The intersection of these three structures describe the socially complex behaviours and relationships occurring among adult males and females of a particular species. Cohesion and stability of groups are maintained through a confluence of factors, including: kinship, willingness to cooperate, frequency of agonistic behaviour, or varying intensities of dominance structures. Primate social organisation exists along a spectrum, with networks ranging from the solitary neighbourhood systems to…

Evidence: 48 • authority: 92

Mutualism and division of labour: a mutual expansion of concepts.. Division of labour within social groups and the interspecific relationships within mutualisms have traditionally been treated as separate research areas. In this opinion, we align terminologies and concepts between the two fields, by comparing within-group division of labour to the outsourcing of functions in mutualisms. Division of labour and interspecific outsourcing share fundamental similarities. Both are built from specialization of some individuals within the relationship on tasks or functions required for survival, growth and reproduction. Both also generate variable fitness outcomes. A key difference is that mutualis…

Evidence: 48 • authority: 88

Cultural Evolution of Cooperative Social Activities. Abstract The evolutionary aspects of acting as a group member and cooperation are discussed in this chapter. It is argued that the disposition to act as a group member (and, accordingly, to cooperate) is a coevolutionary adaptation, a stable feature typically involving both biological and cultural elements. This chapter sketches an account of the dynamics and change of social practices. Three types of group change are focused on. The main change mechanism is taken to be social learning (e.g., imitation) based on conformism, thus we-attitudes. This theoretical account squares well with other, empirically supported work in the field.

Evidence: 48 • authority: 92

Ecological not social factors explain brain size in cephalopods.. Social factors have been argued to be the main selection pressure for the evolution of large brains and complex behavior, but many cephalopods live largely solitary, semelparous, short lives. This suggests that the large brains found in cephalopods are not the result of social selection pressures. Here, we derive specific, preregistered predictions from the "Asocial Brain Hypothesis" (ABH; an untested extension of the cultural brain hypothesis formal model), and evaluate those predicted associations using a new comparative dataset on brain size alongside social, ecological, and life history factors. Consistent with the ABH an…

Evidence: 48 • authority: 92

Marine mammals as models for charting the evolution of social vocal rhythm.. In this Perspective, we suggest combining physiological, neurobiological, behavioural, and social data from multiple marine mammal species to create evolutionary models of the emergence of social vocal coordination. Marine mammal sound production mechanisms have evolved to manage vocalizing and breathing in an aquatic environment, potentially releasing functional constraints on the control of vocal timing. Intervals in rhythmic cetacean vocalizations cover a remarkable temporal range, from less than a millisecond in porpoise burst pulses to 10 s in sperm whale slow clicks. Many cetaceans demonstrate temporally coor…

Evidence: 48 • authority: 72

A pack hunter or social predator is a predatory animal which hunts its prey by working together with other members of its species. When hunting cooperation is across two or more species, the broader term cooperative hunting is commonly used. A well known pack hunter is the gray wolf; humans too can be considered pack hunters. Other pack hunting mammals include chimpanzees, dolphins including orcas, lions, dwarf and banded mongooses, as well as spotted hyenas. Avian social predators include the Harris's hawk, butcherbirds, three of four kookaburra species and many helmetshrikes. Other pack hunters include ants like army ants, the goldsaddle goatfish, and occasionally crocodilians. Pack hunti…

Evidence: 42 • authority: 80

4. Cooperative Hunting and the Evolution of Sociality

Evidence: 42 • authority: 80

Cooperative Hunting and the Evolution of Sociality

Evidence: 42 • authority: 72

The giant otter or giant river otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) is a South American carnivorous mammal. It is the longest member of the weasel family, Mustelidae, reaching up to 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in). Atypical of mustelids, the giant otter is a social species, with family groups typically supporting three to eight members. The groups are centered on a dominant breeding pair and are extremely cohesive and cooperative. Although generally peaceful, the species is territorial, and aggression has been observed between groups. The giant otter is diurnal, being active exclusively during daylight hours. It is the noisiest otter species, and distinct vocalizations have been documented that indicate alarm…

Evidence: 42 • authority: 72

The African wild dog (Lycaon pictus), also called painted dog and Cape hunting dog, is a wild canine native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest wild canine in Africa and the only extant member of the genus Lycaon, which is distinguished from Canis by dentition highly specialised for a hypercarnivorous diet and by a lack of dewclaws. An estimated 6,600 adults (including 1,400 mature individuals) live in 39 subpopulations, all threatened by habitat fragmentation, human persecution, and outbreaks of disease. As the largest subpopulation probably consists of fewer than 250 individuals, the African wild dog has been listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List since 1990. The African wild dog…