Social behaviour occurs in many different animals and involves the interaction between members of a group. The efficiency of two-way communication between members of a group will largely affect social cohesiveness. The advantage of living in groups is that a group is more likely to survive for many reasons such as easier to catch prey, reproduce, raise young, stay safe and keep warm (as in the case for penguins!).
Contests often evolve from competition between members of the same species, and these often involve fights and thus also regularly result in injury. Luckily, most quarrels are resolved before serious injury.
Due to the chance that winning a contest may leave the contestant with serious injuries, it is of a great benefit for an animal to be able to assess the likelihood of winning without sustaining injuries before beginning any battle. Many animals yell roar and strut to aggressively show their strength, which aids animals to gage their own likelihood of winning, and how worthy the fight is. If the combat is deemed too hard, an animal may display submissive behaviour in hope to avoid a seemingly impossible battle.
Dominance
Dominance is displayed when one animal has greater access to food, the first choice for mating, makes loud threatening noises and/or is cared for by other members of the social group. There may be a hierarchy with various levels of dominance within the group and an individual’s social position in such a hierarchy is often signaled by submissive or aggressive behaviours. Many animals such as Australia’s own Red kangaroo will fight (they seemingly kick and punch) each other for dominance. Although the most dominant individual tends to be a male, dominant females will still gain more food than submissive females (in cases such as the spotted hyena). Social structures and hierarchies vary from animal to animal. For example, bees have a dominant female who will be the ‘queen’ and mother to most if not all of the hive.
Culture
The passage of information from generation to generation (not genetically) is known as cultural exchange. Selecting and preparing food, catching prey, recognizing enemies, defense, learning songs and migratory routes, bonding behaviour, courtship and reproductive behaviour are all activities involved for cultural learning in various species.
Social Behaviour
" Tactile communication often in the form of grooming helps maintain social relationships within groups of baboons. They live with a highly structures social hierachy.
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