Bats will hang out with their friends this Halloween

Date:

October 30, 2014

Source:

Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

Summary:

New research has shown that despite moving house frequently, bats choose to roost with the same social groups of 'friends.' The study found that different social groups roost in separate, though adjacent, parts of woodland. The findings have important implications for conservation.

Continued ...

Wasps use ancient aggression genes to create social groups

Date:

February 10, 2014

Source:

Penn State

Summary:

Aggression-causing genes appeared early in animal evolution and have maintained their roles for millions of years and across many species, even though animal aggression today varies widely from territorial fighting to setting up social hierarchies, according to researchers.

Continued

Badger group disruption aids TB flow

Badgers with TB spread the infection more easily to other badgers and to cattle when social groups are disturbed, a new study confirms.

Vaccination has the potential to reduce the spread of infection without disturbing local populations, scientists report in Current Biology.

The findings help explain why culling badgers can cause TB infection in cattle to rise, as infected badgers roam into new territory, they say.

Pilot culls are underway in England.

Badgers are being culled in west Somerset; with a decision due shortly on whether to extend a pilot cull in west Gloucestershire.

In the study, researchers at the University of Exeter and the National Wildlife Management Centre at Woodchester Park, Gloucestershire, fitted 51 badgers in eight different social groups with electronic collars.

They monitored the range of the wild badgers and their social interactions over the course of a year.

The researchers were able to build a detailed picture of the social network of a wild population of badgers for the first time.

We think of badgers as living in tight knit social groups and "sleeping in a big heap underground", but there is more complexity to it, said Prof Robbie McDonald of the University of Exeter, who led the study.

Read on

Goat kids can develop 'accents'

By Ella DaviesReporter, BBC Nature

Pygmy goats can develop "accents" as they grow older, according to scientists.

The young animals, known as "kids", are raised in groups or "creches" with goats of a similar age.

Researchers found that when young goats mixed in these social groups their calls became more similar.

The animals join an elite group of mammals known to adapt a vocal sound in response to the environment that includes humans, bats and whales.

Dr Elodie Briefer and Dr Alan McElligott from Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences at the University of London, UK published their results in the journal Animal Behaviour.

In order to test the goats' vocal repertoire they recorded calls at one-week-old and again when they were aged five weeks.

"Five weeks corresponds to the time when, in the wild, they join their social group after spending some time hidden in vegetation to avoid predators," Dr Briefer explained.

"We found that genetically-related kids produced similar calls... but the calls of kids raised in the same social groups were also similar to each other, and became more similar as the kids grew older."

"This suggests that goat kids modify their calls according to their social surroundings, developing similar 'accents'."

Read on and hear calls:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/17061101