Baboons walk for friendship, not safety, study finds
Researchers from Swansea University have found that baboons walk in lines to stay beside their friends, rather than for any safety or strategic reason. Their results were published in the journal Behavioral Ecology.
The primates often walk in structured line formations, known as progressions, as they travel around their home range. Past studies presented conflicting explanations for this behaviour, with some suggesting that it was random, while others arguing that baboons strategically positioned themselves, keeping the more vulnerable members of the group in the centre for protection.
78 travel progressions over 36 days were examined, revealing that the order they travelled in was not random. When they analysed the data, they discovered that the movement patterns were solely driven by social relationships.
“Surprisingly, the consistent order we see for the baboons we studied isn’t about avoiding danger like we see in prey animals when they position themselves in the middle of their social group, or for better access to food or water like we see in like we see in the movements of plains zebra,” Dr Andrew King, Associate Professor at Swansea University said. “Instead, it’s driven by who they’re socially bonded with. They simply move with their friends, and this produces a consistent order.”
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