Social interactions are crucial for the survival of most animal species. Living in groups helps animals spot predators, find food and raise more successful young than they could alone. Conventional wisdom has long held that highly social animals, like lions or capuchin monkeys, are highly vulnerable when their populations decline. But new research suggests that more loosely social animals, like agoutis or tapirs, may actually face greater risk when their numbers fall.<\/p>\n
Researchers reviewed existing models, data and case studies looking at the relationship between social interactions and survival. Michael Gil, a co-author of the study, with the University of Colorado Boulder, told Mongabay in an interview that highly social animals tend to have a stable number of social interactions, \u201cand they\u2019re going to maintain that; even if the population declines, they\u2019re going to figure out a way to maintain that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
If part of an African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) pack is killed off, for example, the remaining animals will do everything they can to join a new group, their immediate survival depending on it.<\/p>\n
Loosely social species respond differently. \u201cAs the populations decline, their social interactions also decline because they do not make up for it,\u201d Gil said.<\/p>\n
That means there are fewer squirrels, for instance, to keep an eye out and warn of predators. Or smaller schools of fish that can hunt together.<\/p>\n
If those populations decrease, then their social interactions also decline, which can lead to more population declines. It becomes \u201ca dangerous feedback loop,\u201d Gil noted.<\/p>\n
The findings suggest that loosely social animals may be more vulnerable than their social counterparts as climate change and habitat loss push ecosystems toward widespread population declines and mass extinctions.<\/p>\n
The research \u201creframes social behavior not as a niche topic in behavioral ecology, but as something that could fundamentally alter extinction risk across a wide range of taxa,\u201d Rob Salguero-G\u00f3mez, professor of ecology at the University of Oxford, who was not involved with the research, wrote to Mongabay in an email.<\/p>\n