Determinants of hyena participation in risky collective action

Montgomery, Tracy M.; Lehmann, Kenna D. S.; Gregg, Samantha; Keyser, Kathleen; McTigue, Leah E.; Beehner, Jacinta C.; Holekamp, Kay E.

doi:10.1098/rspb.2023.1390

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 79 publications

(109 reference statements)

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“…Specifically, great tits respond more strongly to the mobbing calls of three callers than to one caller, although the mobbing calls of five callers did not elicit an even stronger response. Additionally, spotted hyenas Crocuta crocuta use long-range recruitment vocalizations, known as ‘whoops’, to coordinate their collective defence of resources, territories and against threats [69,70]. Although no direct playback experiments indicate that a greater number of callers intensifies mobbing responses, the number of hyenas and presence of social allies and kin are shown as important factors in their decision to mob predators.…”

Section: The Role Of Acoustic Communication In Coordinating Behavioursmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relative contribution of acoustic signals versus movement cues in group coordination and collective decision-making

Liao,

Magrath,

Manser

et al. 2024

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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To benefit from group living, individuals need to maintain cohesion and coordinate their activities. Effective communication thus becomes critical, facilitating rapid coordination of behaviours and reducing consensus costs when group members have differing needs and information. In many bird and mammal species, collective decisions rely on acoustic signals in some contexts but on movement cues in others. Yet, to date, there is no clear conceptual framework that predicts when decisions should evolve to be based on acoustic signals versus movement cues. Here, we first review how acoustic signals and movement cues are used for coordinating activities. We then outline how information masking, discrimination ability (Weber’s Law) and encoding limitations, as well as trade-offs between these, can identify which types of collective behaviours likely rely on acoustic signals or movement cues. Specifically, our framework proposes that behaviours involving the timing of events or expression of specific actions should rely more on acoustic signals, whereas decisions involving complex choices with multiple options (e.g. direction and destination) should generally use movement cues because sounds are more vulnerable to information masking and Weber’s Law effects. We then discuss potential future avenues of enquiry, including multimodal communication and collective decision-making by mixed-species animal groups. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The power of sound: unravelling how acoustic communication shapes group dynamic’.

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Section: The Role Of Acoustic Communication In Coordinating Behavioursmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relative contribution of acoustic signals versus movement cues in group coordination and collective decision-making

Liao,

Magrath,

Manser

et al. 2024

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Daily ranging and den usage patterns structure the spatiotemporal properties of social encounters in spotted hyenas

Strauss,

Jensen,

Gersick

et al. 2024

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Fission–fusion dynamics describe the tendency for members of some animal societies to associate in subgroups that change size and structure fluidly over time. These dynamics shape social complexity and social structure, but are difficult to study because they unfold simultaneously over large spatial scales. Here we use simultaneous, fine-scale GPS data from spotted hyenas to examine fission–fusion dynamics through a dyadic analysis of merge-split events between pairs of individuals. We introduce a species-agnostic framework for identifying merge-split events and discretizing them into three phases (merging, together, and splitting), enabling analysis of each phase as well as the connections among phases. Applying this framework to the hyena data, we examine the temporal and spatial properties of merges and splits between dyads and test the extent to which social encounters are driven by key locations. Specifically, we focus on communal dens—shelters for juvenile hyenas where classical observational studies often report large aggregations of adults. We find that overall, 62% of merges occurred at communal dens, supporting the idea that dens facilitate meet-ups and subsequent social behavior. Social encounters most commonly involved close approaches within a few meters between hyenas, while co-travel together occurred in only 11% of events. Comparison to permutation-based reference models suggests that independent movement decisions structure broad-scale patterns of social encounters but do not explain the fine-scale dynamics of interactions that unfold during these encounters. We reflect on how physical features such as dens can become social hotspots, causing social and spatial processes to become fundamentally intertwined.

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Multilevel sociality in the spotted hyaena: How to live in large groups without falling prey to the infertility trap

Dunbar

2024

Afr J Ecol

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Spotted hyaenas live in unusually large social groups for a carnivore. Since, all else equal, the ‘infertility trap’ (a negative relationship between fertility and the number of females in a group) limits social group sizes to ~5 reproductive females in mammals, hyaena must, like other very social species, have found a way to mitigate the stresses involved in order to do so. From a comparative analysis of data from 19 well‐studied Crocuta crocuta populations, I show (1) that the distribution of hyaena clan sizes is multimodal, with a fractal scaling ratio close to 3 and a base unit of 12–15 individuals (3–5 reproductive females), (2) that fertility is a negative function of number of females in the group and (3) that there is a trade‐off between the benefits of having more males in the group and the costs incurred by having more females. Although females do buffer themselves against the infertility trap by forming matrilineal alliances (thereby creating a primate‐like multilevel structure), males seem to play an important role, such that, in areas with a low density of males, clan sizes are much smaller.

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Determinants of hyena participation in risky collective action

Cited by 3 publications

References 79 publications

The relative contribution of acoustic signals versus movement cues in group coordination and collective decision-making

The relative contribution of acoustic signals versus movement cues in group coordination and collective decision-making

Daily ranging and den usage patterns structure the spatiotemporal properties of social encounters in spotted hyenas

Multilevel sociality in the spotted hyaena: How to live in large groups without falling prey to the infertility trap

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