Existence of Triadic Closure in Animal Social Networks
While triadic closure has been greatly studied throughout human physical and social media networks, it is not as well known within the animal kingdom. Triadic closure is the formation of a connection between two endpoints (or, in this case, animals) due to the sharing of a mutual connection. The stronger the connections with the original mutual connection, the more likely it is that this new connection will be established. Cédric and Sueur and Frédéric Mery, in their article “Social Interaction in Animals: Linking Experimental Approach and Social Network Analysis” dive into the study of the existence of triadic closure within the non-human primate population, and its effects on the species as a whole.
The authors write about three studies they conducted in order to determine the social structure of non-human primates. In all three of their studies, triadic closure was significant, showing that humans and primates have the same social connection dynamics in this regard. Primates that had a mutual connection ended up bonding themselves, resulting in the establishment of close knit troops/groups of monkeys.
It was also found, as we studied in class, that the connections of these primates could be classified as “strong” or “weak.” The authors describe this scenario when they write: “within a group, each individual [primate] can be seen as part of a network of social interactions varying in strength, type, and dynamic.” For example, in some primate species networks, “females are more centrally, more active, and have a denser ego network in the social network than males;” in some primate species, female primates develop stronger ties than males.
Ultimately, primates’ social networks do not differ greatly from those of humans. Just as the development of a human can be greatly impacted by their social network and connections, so can the evolution of a primate and their species.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00035/full