Shared decision-making drives collective movement in wild baboons
Abstract
How do groups of animals, including humans, make decisions that affect the entire group? Evidence collected from schooling animals suggests that the process is somewhat democratic, with nearest neighbors and the majority shaping overall collective behavior. In animals with hierarchical social structures such as primates or wolves, however, such democracy may be complicated by dominance. Strandburg-Peshkin et al. monitored all the individuals within a baboon troop continuously over the course of their daily activities. Even within this highly socially structured species, movement decisions emerged via a shared process. Thus, democracy may be an inherent trait of collective behavior.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jun 19, 2015
- Source ID
- 10.1126/science.aaa5099
Entities
People
- Ariana Strandburg-Peshkin
- Damien R. Farine
- Iain Couzin
- Margaret C. Crofoot
Organizations
- Army Research Office
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
- Human Frontier Science Program
- Max Planck Institute for Ornithology
- National Institutes of Health
- National Science Foundation
- Office of Naval Research
- Princeton University
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
- University of California
- University of Konstanz
- University of Oxford