Triadic Closure in Hyenas
Human interactions on social media has been studied in depth for the past decade. Researchers have coined the term “triadic closure” to describe the relationship between two acquaintances; if an individual has strong ties to two others, it is likely that the two have weak, if not strong, tie with one another. This property is extremely relevant in describing social networks, and has helped the development of Facebook’s algorithm in suggesting friends. Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania and University of Michigan have also discovered this property in wildlife. With 55,000 observations of social interactions in 20 years, these colleagues concluded that Spotted Hyenas in Kenya displayed this property in clustering patterns. Researchers were surprised that this principle was applicable not only to Facebook users but also to wildlife hunters. The study has been conducted for two decades, and is still active, making it the biggest study of non-human interactions to date.
Hyenas are very selective in the way they form strong relationships with one another. Although they travel and live in clans, they tend not to befriend just any member. Several factors such as social rank within the clan, sex, age and individual traits affect the likeliness that two hyenas will become companions. However, the triadic closure property was the single most governing factor in camaraderie among hyenas. By forming bonds with companions of companions, hyenas form “cohesive clusters” that maximizes group activities such as hunting. This innate behavior naturally leads to several advantages such as improved survival rates and fitness. It is fascinating to see that a principle that describes social interactions in human also has evolutionary backgrounds in wildlife animals.
http://www.futurity.org/hyenas-social-networks-922882/