3.6 Social Behaviour Flashcards
(16 cards)
What animal behaviours are adapted to group living?
Social hierarchy, co-operative hunting and social defence
What is social hierarchy?
A rank order within a group of animals consisting of a dominant and subordinate members
What kind of behaviours are displayed in a social hierarchy? And why?
Dominant: ritualistic (threat) displays
Subordinate: appeasement behaviour
The result of this is to reduce conflict
What does a social hierarchy increase chances of?
The dominant animals genes being passed on to offspring
How can cooperative hunting benefit all social status’?
They can gain more food than by foraging alone, less energy is used per individual, enables larger prey to be caught and increases the chance of success
What are the advantages of social defence strategies?
Increases the chances of survival as some individuals can watch for predators whilst others can forage for food. Groups adopt specialised formations when under attack protecting their young
What is altruistic behaviour?
Behaviour that harms the donor individual but benefits the recipient
What is reciprocal altruism?
Where the roles of donor and recipient later reverse, often occurs in social animals
When is behaviour that appears altruistic most common?
Between a donor and a recipient if they are related (kin)
Who benefits in kin selection?
The donor, in terms of increased chances of survival of shared genes in the recipients offspring or future offspring
What are 4 kinds of social insects?
Bees, wasps, ants and termites
Which individuals in social insects contribute reproductively?
Queens and drones
What examples are there of the roles of workers in social insects?
Defending the hive, collecting pollen, carrying out waggle dances to show the direction of food and co-operating with close relatives to raise relatives - increasing the survival of shared genes
Why do primates have a long period of parental care?
To allow learning of complex social behaviour
What kind of complex social behaviours are there that support social hierarchy?
Grooming, facial expression, body posture and sexual presentation. This reduces conflict through ritualistic display and appeasement behaviour
How is social status often increased within a social hierarchy?
Alliances are formed between individuals
