Monkey fights help explain tipping points in animal societies

Date: February 10, 2017

Source: Santa Fe Institute

Previous studies of flocks, swarms, and schools suggest that animal societies may verge on a "critical" point -- in other words, they are extremely sensitive and can be easily tipped into a new social regime. But exactly how far animal societies sit from the critical point and what controls that distance remain unknown.

Now an analysis of conflicts within a captive community of pigtail macaque monkeys has helped to answer these questions by showing how agitated monkeys can precipitate critical, large-scale brawls. In the study, fights were often small, involving just two or three monkeys, but sometimes grew to be very large, with as many as 30 of the 48 adults in the society. Bryan Daniels at the ASU-SFI Center for Biosocial Complex Systems, together with David Krakauer and Jessica Flack of the Santa Fe Institute, used ideas and models from statistical mechanics to ask whether the monkeys' conflict behavior was near a critical point. They report what they found in this week's Nature Communications.

Daniels, Krakauer, and Flack discovered that the distance from the critical point can be measured in terms of the "number of monkeys" that have to become agitated to push the system over the edge. Daniels says that in this system "agitating four or five individuals at a time can cause the system to destabilize and huge fights to break out." However, Daniels says, each monkey makes a distinct contribution to group sensitivity -- and these individual differences may allow distance from the critical point to be more easily controlled. Group members that break up fights can move the system away from the critical point by quelling the monkeys that contribute most to group sensitivity. Other group members, by targeting and agitating these individuals, can move the system towards the critical point and ready it for reconfiguration.

Continued 

Giraffe fights and friendships revealed

As the tallest animals in the world, with gangly legs, twisting black tongues and patchwork markings, giraffes are instantly recognisable.

But we still know relatively little about the behaviour of these supposedly "gentle giants".

Footage recorded for a new landmark natural history series, Africa, coproduced by the BBC and Discovery, reveals a little seen brutal aspect to giraffes' lives.

Male giraffes were filmed engaging in a bruising fight, literally going head to head until a single giraffe is left standing.

New research just published also shows that female giraffes form previously unrecognised close bonds with a select group of female companions.

Not only do they make "friends" in this way, they avoid other females they get on with less well.

Scientific studies of giraffes often focus on their iconic aspects: how fast they can travel or how high they can reach using their long legs, the strength of their necks and the colour of their coats.

Read more:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/20694264

3 Florida panthers die in the first 10 days of 2012

24 deaths, 32 births documented in 2011

January 2011. Florida panthers are off to a rough start in 2012, with three deaths documented by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). Already, in just the first week of 2012, there were two documented deaths of panthers hit by vehicles on highways in Collier County, where the greatest concentration of panthers in the state is found. The third fatality was caused by a fight with another panther.

2011 births and deaths
Last year, 24 Florida panther deaths were recorded, but FWC biologists also observed 11 radio-collared females giving birth to 32 panther kittens. Overall, the known number of newborn panthers in 2011 appears to have offset the known number of panther deaths. Among the 24 documented panther deaths in 2011, nine deaths, or more than a third, were due to collisions with vehicles.

100-160 panthers alive
Today, an estimated 100 to 160 adults of this federally endangered species live in Florida. Panthers almost disappeared from the wild in this state when their numbers fell to fewer than 30 in the 1970s. Since then, their population has been increasing.

Vehicle collisions top cause of mortality
Collisions with vehicles continues to be the greatest source of human-caused mortality to this long-tailed cat that can weigh up to 160 pounds and grow to 6 feet or longer.

"Florida panther deaths are most often the result of one of two things: collisions with vehicles or aggression from other panthers," said Kipp Frohlich, head of the Imperiled Species Management Section at the FWC. "We can't control panthers fighting when they are defending their territory; that is a part of nature. But we can do something about human-caused panther mortalities."

"People who slow down and drive carefully in rural areas, especially where panther crossings are identified, can make a difference in conservation of this endangered species. It is especially important to slow down and keep a careful lookout at dawn or dusk, when panthers are most likely to be on the move," Frohlich said.

The FWC continues to work with many partners to conserve and increase habitat available to panthers on both public and private lands. This is a critical step to ensuring the survival of panthers, the official state animal of Florida.

Report sightings
People are encouraged to report sightings of an injured or dead panther by calling the FWC's Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922) or #FWC or *FWC on a cell phone. Another option is texting Tip@MyFWC.com (standard usage fees may apply).

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/florida-panther2012.html