The Benefits of Being Social: Insights from Animal Societies

How Social Behavior Shapes Lifespans, Intelligence, and Survival

Social behavior has played a transformative role in the evolution of various species, including humans. A recent study¹ highlights a key advantage of social living: longer lifespans for individuals in highly social species. However, sociality comes with its own challenges, creating pressures that have shaped the cognitive and behavioral complexity of animals over millennia.

Degrees of Sociality: Understanding the Spectrum

Social behavior exists on a spectrum, ranging from solitary living to complex group interactions. The study examined 152 species across 13 taxonomic classes, dividing them into five distinct social categories:

1. Solitary: Individuals live and interact alone, coming together only to reproduce. Tigers exemplify this category.

2. Gregarious: Animals live in loose, unstructured groups without close associations, as seen in zebras.

3. Communal: Animals share nesting or roosting sites but do not cooperate in activities like breeding. Purple Martins are one example.

4. Colonial: Individuals live in tightly knit groups that always stay together, such as coral polyps or nesting birds.

5. Truly Social: These species live in organized, stable groups with cooperative behaviors, hierarchical structures, and social bonds. This category includes elephants, meerkats, lions, dolphins, and humans.

“Truly social species exhibit intricate behaviors such as cooperative breeding, group hunting, and complex hierarchical systems,” noted the researchers.