animal social behaviour

Table of Contents

Introduction
General characteristics
- Categorizing the diversity of social behaviour
- The range of social behaviour in animals
- A historical perspective on the study of social behaviour
The how and why of social behaviour
- Proximate versus ultimate causation
- Strong inference and the scientific study of social behaviour
The ultimate causes of social behaviour
- Social interactions involving sex
- Social interactions involving the costs and benefits of parental care
- Social interactions involving the use of space
  - Aggregation and individual protection
  - Cooperative foraging
- Social interactions involved in monopolizing resources or mates
  - Territoriality
  - Dominance
- Social interactions involving movement
- Social interactions involving cooperative breeding and eusociality
- Social interactions involving communication
The proximate mechanisms of social behaviour
Evolutionary psychology and human behaviour

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Science & Tech

animal social behaviour

Also known as: group behaviour

Written by Walter Koenig, Janis DickinsonSee All

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Serengeti National Park, Tanzania: herd of gnu (wildebeests)

Serengeti National Park, Tanzania: herd of gnu (wildebeests)

Category: Science & Tech

Related Topics:: reproductive behaviour; animal communication; avoidance behaviour; learning; caste

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animal social behaviour, the suite of interactions that occur between two or more individual animals, usually of the same species, when they form simple aggregations, cooperate in sexual or parental behaviour, engage in disputes over territory and access to mates, or simply communicate across space. Social behaviour is defined by interaction, not by how organisms are distributed in space. Clumping of individuals is not a requirement for social behaviour, although it does increase opportunities for interaction. When a lone female moth emits a bouquet of pheromones to attract male potential mates, she is engaging in social behaviour. When a male ...(100 of 17953 words)

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