A recent study led by Rob Salguero-Gómez from the University of Oxford reveals how the company we keep shapes our life patterns.
Social interactions have long been linked to lifestyle behaviours, with many animals forming social groups for resource sharing, protection from predators, and collective offspring care. However, large group living also carries risks, such as quicker disease transmission, competition for food, and potential conflicts.
The research examined 152 animal species from 13 taxonomic classes, including creatures from jellyfish to humans, to understand how social behaviours influence life patterns across the animal kingdom.
Animals were classified into five social categories. The first group included solitary animals, such as tigers and cheetahs, who mostly live alone. The second group comprised gregarious animals, like wildebeests and zebras, that form loose social groups. The third category was communal animals, such as purple martins, which share nesting spaces.
Colonial animals, like wasps and coral polyps, which consistently nest together, formed the fourth group. Lastly, highly social species, including elephants and honeybees, exhibit complex social structures with shared breeding responsibilities.
The study found that animals with higher social interaction tend to have longer reproductive windows, allowing for greater reproduction over their lifetimes. Highly social animals showed greater population resilience and a stronger ability to withstand environmental changes, although they were less able to take advantage of favourable conditions compared to their less social counterparts.
Rob Salguero-Gómez, associate professor in Oxford’s Department of Biology, noted that the study suggests highly social animals generally live longer than those with less social engagement. The findings resonate in a post-COVID world where humans, too, are navigating the impacts of social isolation.
