3.6 Social Behaviour Flashcards
(23 cards)
State the three main types of social groups
- Social hierarchy
- Co-operative hunting
- Social defence
Define ‘social hierarchy’
a rank order within a group of animals consisting of dominant and subordinate members
Explain how the social hierarchy is established and maintained
Dominant individuals carry out ritualistic (threat) displays whilst subordinate animals carry out appeasement behaviour to reduce conflict.
Explain the advantage to the dominant animals in a social hierarchy
increased chance of the dominant animal’s successful genes being passed on to offspring.
Define ‘co-operative’ hunting
when an animal hunts its prey by working together with other members of its species
List the advantages of co-operative hunting
- Larger prey can be caught & Increases hunting success
- Less energy is used per individual
- Dominant animals will eat first so get more food
- Subordinate animals will gain more food than hunting alone
Define ‘social defence’
when prey animals work together to discourage predators
Describe how social defence can work
Groups adopt specialised formations when under attack protecting their young
Describe the advantage of social defence
Increases the chance of survival as some individuals can watch for predators whilst others can forage for food
Define ‘alturism’
a social behaviour that harms the donor individual but benefits the recipient
Give an example of an alturistic behaviour
Vervet monkeys will sound an alarm call when they spot a predator.
This increase the chance of the monkey sounding the alarm (the donor) from being spotted and caught by the predator but increases the chance the other monkeys (the recipients) escape.
State the two types of alturism
- Kin selection
- Reciprocal alturism
Define ‘reciprocal alturism’
where the roles of the donor and recipient later reverse. This is common in social animals
e.g. you scratch my back I scratch yours
Define ‘kin selection’
altruistic behaviour between related individuals
Explain why kin selection occurs
The donor will benefit in kin selection due to the increased chances of survival of shared genes in the recipient’s offspring or future offspring.
How is a social insect society organised reproductively?
Only some individuals contribute reproductively
What is the role of most members in a social insect colony?
They are infertile workers who co-operate with close relatives to raise relatives
Why do sterile worker insects raise relatives if they don’t reproduce themselves?
To increase the survival of shared genes.
i.e. kin selection
What are some other roles of worker insects besides raising relatives?
- Defending the hive
- Collecting pollen
- Performing waggle dances to show the direction of food
Why do primates have a long period of parental care?
To allow learning of complex social behaviour
How do primates reduce conflict within their social groups?
Through ritualistic display and appeasement behaviour
Give examples of primate ritualistic displays and appeasment behaviours
- Grooming
- Facial expressions
- Body posture
- Sexual presentation
What can alliances between individual primates lead to?
An increase in social status within the group
