Forced proximity promotes the formation of enduring cooperative relationships in vampire bats

Razik, Imran; Brown, Bridget K. G.; Carter, Gerald G.

doi:10.1101/2022.01.30.478382

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 30 publications

(32 reference statements)

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“…In vampire bats ( Desmodus rotundus ), groups can improve the average survival rate of their members (our ‘collective performance’) through a form of non-kin cooperation (sharing blood meals), which works as a collective mutualistic insurance against stochastic individual foraging success [53]. Recent studies suggest this altruistic behaviour develops progressively between any given pair, by establishing a form of trust relationship specific to the partner: individuals are more likely to offer a blood meal to individuals they have previously roosted with and that groomed each other; it is also less likely to happen again towards non-reciprocal individuals [53–55]. If we imagine a newly formed group of vampire bats, all initially naïve to each other and to foraging, we could in theory expect the average survival rate of the group to increase through time and across foraging attempts, as members learn to trust each other through their interactions.…”

Section: Mechanisms Of Collective Learning: a Classificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanisms of collective learning: how can animal groups improve collective performance when repeating a task?

Collet

Morford

Lewin

et al. 2023

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Learning is ubiquitous in animals: individuals can use their experience to fine-tune behaviour and thus to better adapt to the environment during their lifetime. Observations have accumulated that, at the collective level, groups can also use their experience to improve collective performance. Yet, despite apparent simplicity, the links between individual learning capacities and a collective's performance can be extremely complex. Here we propose a centralized and broadly applicable framework to begin classifying this complexity. Focusing principally on groups with stable composition, we first identify three distinct ways through which groups can improve their collective performance when repeating a task: each member learning to better solve the task on its own, members learning about each other to better respond to one another and members learning to improve their complementarity. We show through selected empirical examples, simulations and theoretical treatments that these three categories identify distinct mechanisms with distinct consequences and predictions. These mechanisms extend well beyond current social learning and collective decision-making theories in explaining collective learning. Finally, our approach, definitions and categories help generate new empirical and theoretical research avenues, including charting the expected distribution of collective learning capacities across taxa and its links to social stability and evolution. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Collective behaviour through time’.

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Section: Mechanisms Of Collective Learning: a Classificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanisms of collective learning: how can animal groups improve collective performance when repeating a task?

Collet

Morford

Lewin

et al. 2023

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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“…While the origins of a social bond developed from a reproductive or kin-based association may be relatively straightforward, other mechanisms of social bond development are less clear [3]. Forced time spent together has resulted in subsequent increased allogrooming in captive common vampire bats [4] and randomly assigned college roommates will develop lasting friendships [5,6]. Time spent together sharing a specific experience may also create new social relationships.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shared stressful experiences affect social proximity in Merino sheep

et al. 2023

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While it is well established that humans develop stronger relationship bonds when they share stressful experiences, there is little known on how shared stressful experiences may influence relationship bonding in animals. Here, we present a study looking at social proximity between individuals in small groups of Merino ewes following a shared stressful experience compared with control sheep that were not exposed to stress. Some sheep were familiar to each other. Analyses of social proximity using real-time-kinematic Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) on-animal devices showed sheep preferred to be closest to familiar individuals, but across the study duration they also developed a preference for the individuals they shared the stressful experience with, relative to their proximity to control individuals. These results contribute to limited research on what factors may instigate the development of bonds between unfamiliar sheep. Between-individual bonds may develop as a means of socially mediated stress buffering. Social bonding following a shared stressful experience aligns with human social relationships and increases our understanding of how animals perceive their conspecifics in relation to stressful environmental change.

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Forced proximity promotes the formation of enduring cooperative relationships in vampire bats

2022

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Spatial assortment can be both a cause and a consequence of cooperation. Proximity promotes cooperation when individuals preferentially help nearby partners, and conversely, cooperation drives proximity when individuals move towards more cooperative partners. However, these two causal directions are difficult to distinguish with observational data. Here, we experimentally test if forcing randomly selected pairs of equally familiar female common vampire bats ( Desmodus rotundus ) into close spatial proximity promotes the formation of enduring cooperative relationships. Over 114 days, we sampled 682 h of interactions among 21 females captured from three distant sites to track daily allogrooming rates over time. We compared these rates before, during and after a one-week period, during which we caged random triads of previously unfamiliar and unrelated vampire bats in proximity. After the week of proximity when all bats could again freely associate, the allogrooming rates of pairs forced into proximity increased more than those of the 126 control pairs. This work is the first to experimentally demonstrate the causal effect of repeated interactions on cooperative investments in vampire bats. Future work should determine the relative importance of mere association versus interactions (e.g. reciprocal allogrooming) in shaping social preferences.

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Forced proximity promotes the formation of enduring cooperative relationships in vampire bats

Cited by 3 publications

References 30 publications

Mechanisms of collective learning: how can animal groups improve collective performance when repeating a task?

Mechanisms of collective learning: how can animal groups improve collective performance when repeating a task?

Shared stressful experiences affect social proximity in Merino sheep

Forced proximity promotes the formation of enduring cooperative relationships in vampire bats

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