Social connectedness and movements among communities of giraffes vary by sex and age class

Ferres, Juan M. Lavista; Lee, Derek; Nasir, .; Chen, Yu‐Chia; Bijral, Avleen S.; Bercovitch, Fred B.; Bond, Monica L.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.08.008

Cited by 14 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 93 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our results showed that older calves associated less than younger individuals (lower strength and social time), which is in agreement with a previous study 33 . This might be due to higher social exploration 57 in younger calves while older calves become more solitary as they age, which has been shown in other species (i.e. giraffes 57,58 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Familiarity, age, weaning and health status impact social proximity networks in dairy calves

Vázquez-Diosdado

Occhiuto

Carslake

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Social network analysis in dairy calves has not been widely studied, with previous studies limited by the short study duration, and low number of animals and replicates. In this study, we investigated social proximity interactions of 79 Holstein–Friesian calves from 5 cohorts for up to 76 days. Networks were computed using 4-day aggregated associations obtained from ultrawideband location sensor technology, at 1 Hz sampling rate. The effect of age, familiarity, health, and weaning status on the social proximity networks of dairy calves was assessed. Networks were poorly correlated (non-stable) between the different 4-day periods, in the majority of them calves associated heterogeneously, and individuals assorted based on previous familiarity for the whole duration of the study. Age significantly increased association strength, social time and eigenvector centrality and significantly decreased closeness and coefficient of variation in association (CV). Sick calves had a significantly lower strength, social time, centrality and CV, and significantly higher closeness compared to the healthy calves. During and after weaning, calves had significantly lower closeness and CV, and significantly higher association strength, social time, and eigenvector centrality. These results indicate that age, familiarity, weaning, and sickness have a significant impact on the variation of social proximity interaction of calves.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

“…This might be due to higher social exploration 57 in younger calves while older calves become more solitary as they age, which has been shown in other species (i.e. giraffes 57,58 ). Additionally, older calves had lower centrality (social rank), higher closeness, and higher coefficient of variation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

Familiarity, age, weaning and health status impact social proximity networks in dairy calves

Vázquez-Diosdado

Occhiuto

Carslake

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Giraffes have a multi‐tiered social system based on fission–fusion dynamics, with temporary groupings that merge and split throughout the day (Bond et al., 2019; Carter, Brand, et al., 2013; Carter, Seddon, et al., 2013; Hart et al., 2019) embedded within larger, stable social communities (Bond, König, Lee, et al., 2021; Bond, König, Ozgul, et al., 2021; Lavista‐Ferres et al., 2021; VanderWaal, Wang, et al., 2014). Female giraffes form communities via long‐term associations with familiar, related females (Bercovitch & Berry, 2013; Bond, König, Lee, et al., 2021; Bond, König, Ozgul, et al., 2021; Bond, Lee, Ozgul, et al., 2021; Carter, Brand, et al., 2013; Carter, Seddon, et al., 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Female giraffes form communities via long‐term associations with familiar, related females (Bercovitch & Berry, 2013; Bond, König, Lee, et al., 2021; Bond, König, Ozgul, et al., 2021; Bond, Lee, Ozgul, et al., 2021; Carter, Brand, et al., 2013; Carter, Seddon, et al., 2013). Subadult and younger adult males disperse, form temporary bachelor herds, and establish a dominance hierarchy, while older adult males roam alone among female communities searching for receptive females (Bond et al., 2019; Dagg & Foster, 1976; Knüsel et al., 2019; Lavista‐Ferres et al., 2021; van der Jeugd & Prins, 2000), so social associations among males are less stable over time (Carter, Brand, et al., 2013). Therefore sex differences between females and males in social connectedness, with females having higher social association scores but fewer affiliates than males (Lavista‐Ferres et al., 2021) follows from their life history strategies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phenotypic matching by spot pattern potentially mediates female giraffe social associations

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Animal color pattern is a phenotypic trait that may mediate assortative mixing (also known as homophily), whereby similar looking individuals have stronger social associations. Masai giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi) coat spot patterns show high variation and some spot traits appear to be heritable. Giraffes also have high visual acuity, which may facilitate intraspecific communication and recognition based on spot patterns. Giraffe groupings are dynamic, merging and splitting throughout the day, but females form long‐term associations. We predicted that adult female giraffes show stronger associations with other females that have similar spot pattern traits. We quantified the spot pattern characteristics of 399 adult female Masai giraffes and determined the pattern similarity among pairs (dyads) in their social network. We then tested for an association between coat pattern similarity (spot size, shape, and orientation) and dyadic association strength, and quantified assortative mixing. The strength of social associations was positively correlated with similarity in spot shape. Our results are compatible with assortativity by coat patterns that are similar between mother and offspring, potentially reflecting an effect of relatedness on both pattern similarity and female social associations. These results offer evidence that spot pattern could function as a visual cue for intraspecific communication and kin or individual recognition in a fission‐fusion species.

show abstract

“…This knowledge gap is now filled by the work by Bond et al (2021) on social dispersal in giraffes, which also provides much needed novel robust information on dispersal patterns in giraffes, a socially complex yet until now mostly misunderstood species (Muller & Harris, 2021). Bond et al (2021) Journal of Animal Ecology BÖRGER female communities (12 social communities in the study area with around 60-90 individuals each) with overlapping space use, below which there is a dynamic group level with constant daily membership changes ('fission-fusion', within large individual home ranges of around 115 km 2 ), below which stable preferred associations between specific individuals can be recognised (see also Lavista Ferres et al, 2021). Specifically, the authors defined 'social dispersal' to occur when the calves consistently switched to a different female community from their natal community, without being seen associated again with individuals from the natal one (Figure 1).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Research Highlight: Social dispersal in giraffes

Börger

2021

Journal of Animal Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Research Highlight: Bond, M. L., Lee, D. E., Ozgul, A., Farine, D. R., & König, B. (2021). Leaving by staying: Social dispersal in giraffes. Journal of Animal Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13582. Dispersal is a key ecological and evolutionary process, which shows marked variability between and within species. The social and kinship structure of species fundamentally affects the patterns and types of dispersal, but information on how animals with fission–fusion group dynamics disperse is missing. Bond et al. provide novel data on natal dispersal of giraffe calves in relation to their dynamic multilayered social system, showing that individuals from both sexes can disperse socially, by switching association with different social groups, without leaving their natal area. The results highlight that traditional spatial‐only measures of dispersal, such as dispersal distance, may be inadequate for social species with overlapping social units.

show abstract

Social connectedness and movements among communities of giraffes vary by sex and age class

Cited by 14 publications

References 93 publications

Familiarity, age, weaning and health status impact social proximity networks in dairy calves

Familiarity, age, weaning and health status impact social proximity networks in dairy calves

Phenotypic matching by spot pattern potentially mediates female giraffe social associations

Research Highlight: Social dispersal in giraffes

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About