Importance of Social Networks in Animals
With the ever-growing prevalence of social media such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, it is easy to forget that humans aren’t the only ones who can form social networks. According to Dr. David Fisher at the University of Guelph, researchers have begun applying social network theory to animals over the past decade. Although social interactions between animals have been discussed and studied since the inception of Darwinism, it had been difficult to systematically collect information on these interactions until recently. Modern technology, such as GPS and cameras, has allowed Fisher and other researchers to better capture species behaviors in their own environment, rather than in a laboratory setting.
Fisher and his team of researchers had studied field crickets also known as Gryllus campestris for three months in Northern Spain. Using over 100 video cameras, the researchers tracked the crickets’ social and mating behaviors. One interesting ovservation Fisher made was that, “two individuals of the same sex will almost never share a burrow”. This has important survival implications because the generally the second cricket to enter the burrow will be eaten, whereas the first cricket will be spared since it was able to enter earlier. Sharing a burrow is obviously detrimental to a cricket and yet Fisher argues that this is actually a mutualistic symbiotic relationship.
The primary motivation behind this phenomenon is, similarly to human behavior, self-interest. The male cricket will share a burrow with a female because there is a chance that he gets to mate with the female. However, since he will have no offspring if the female dies, he will let her go into the burrow first. From the female’s perspective, she not only has a higher chance of survival by sharing the burrow, but also a higher chance of producing offspring. As a result, both parties benefit from this seemingly detrimental relationship.
It is interesting to note the analogies between cricket and human relationships. The male cricket acts as somewhat of a “protector” for the female cricket and will even risk his life to ensure the female’s survival. This is not unlike the typical hero/damsel-in-distress relationship we are all too familiar with. Additionally, similar to many of us with our need to be socially connected, these crickets simply would not survive without their intricate network of relationships.
University of Guelph. “Social networks key to crickets’ success.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 30 August 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160830160657.htm>.