Journal article 86 views
Baboon travel progressions as a ‘social spandrel’ in collective animal behaviour
,
Miguel Lurgi Rivera ,
Marina Papadopoulou ,
A M Bracken,
C Christensen,
M J O’Riain,
Andrew King
Behavioral Ecology, Start page: araf022
Swansea University Authors:
MARCO FELE, Ines Fuertbauer , Miguel Lurgi Rivera , Marina Papadopoulou , Andrew King
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DOI (Published version): 10.1093/beheco/araf022
Abstract
How individuals in a group move relative to one another can influence both their survival and fitness. Spatial positioning has been well studied in baboons (Papio spp.), which travel collectively in line formations or "progressions". Early studies of baboon progressions presented contradic...
| Published in: | Behavioral Ecology |
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| ISSN: | 1045-2249 1465-7279 |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press (OUP)
2025
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| Online Access: |
Check full text
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa69077 |
| Abstract: |
How individuals in a group move relative to one another can influence both their survival and fitness. Spatial positioning has been well studied in baboons (Papio spp.), which travel collectively in line formations or "progressions". Early studies of baboon progressions presented contradictory findings on the progressions’ order – some reporting random positioning of individuals, while others reporting non-random positioning, thought to protect more vulnerable group-members. Here, we revisit this topic and use high-resolution GPS tracking data to study travel progressions in a group of chacma baboon (Papio ursinus) on Cape Peninsula, South Africa. We identify 78 progressions over 36 days and find that progression orders are not random. We test four non-exclusive hypotheses to explain progression orders: vulnerable individuals position themselves in the middle (risk hypothesis), subordinate individuals position themselves at the front to gain better access to resources (competition hypothesis), dominant individuals assume leading positions (group decision-making hypothesis), or progression order is an emergent outcome of underlying social bonds (social spandrel hypothesis). We find no evidence that progression orders are adaptive responses to minimise an individuals’ risk, maximise their resource acquisition, or are the result of decision-makers leading the group. Instead, we find that individuals’ positions are predicted by pairwise affiliations, resulting in consistency in order, with more dominant individuals occupying central positions in progressions. This non-random structuring of individuals during progressions can be considered a side-effect or outcome of underlying social forces acting among individuals, providing an example of a ‘social spandrel’ in collective animal behaviour. |
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| College: |
Faculty of Science and Engineering |
| Funders: |
This research was supported by grants awarded to A.J.K. from Swansea University’s College of
Science and the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASAB). MP was supported by the
Office for Naval Research (ONR) Global Grant (grant no. N629092112030) awarded to AJK. M.J.O.
was supported by NRF incentive funding. MF was supported by a Swansea University EPSRC
studentship. |
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araf022 |