New research conducted by the University of Oxford has uncovered that animal species with stronger social bonds tend to have longer lifespans and a more extended period for reproduction. This marks the first study on such a wide-ranging topic covering the entire animal kingdom, from jellyfish to humans.
Recent findings from the University of Oxford indicate that species displaying higher social connectivity experience longer lifespans and prolonged reproductive periods. This groundbreaking research explores this phenomenon across the animal kingdom, including creatures from jellyfish to humans.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of being social? Social animals can benefit from aspects such as resource sharing, increased protection from predators, and assistance in raising young. However, living in close-knit groups may also expose these animals to challenges like disease spread, intensified competition, and conflicts.
A new study spearheaded by the University of Oxford has conducted a thorough investigation into how social behavior correlates with various life history traits, including generation time, lifespan, and reproductive duration. Previously, research focused on individual species or specific groups like birds or certain mammals. This study evaluated 152 animal species across diverse taxonomic categories, encompassing birds, mammals, insects, and corals.
The study’s findings indicate that more social species generally experience longer lifespans, delay maturity, and have a greater likelihood of successful reproduction compared to solitary species. While social animals may not adapt as readily to rapidly changing environments, they generally show enhanced resilience as a community. This innovative discovery backs the hypothesis that the advantages of sociality outweigh its apparent drawbacks.
The research also highlighted that social behavior impacts the decline in an animal’s ability to reproduce or survive as they age, a process known as senescence. For example, social companions may provide protection from predation, thereby extending life, but the pressures from social hierarchies and conflicts can have detrimental effects.
Lead author Associate Professor Rob Salguero-Gómez from the Department of Biology at the University of Oxford stated, “Social behavior is a key characteristic in many animal species. Nonetheless, we still lack comprehensive evidence across different taxa regarding the fitness costs and benefits of social structures. By incorporating an unprecedented array of animal species, this research demonstrates that more social species, such as most monkeys, humans, elephants, flamingos, and parrots, tend to have longer lifespans and reproductive periods compared to more solitary species like certain fish, reptiles, and insects.”
Unlike previous studies that treated social behavior as a binary concept—categorizing species as either social or not—this new research recognizes sociality as a spectrum. The continuum considers more nuanced forms of social interaction, such as gregariousness (e.g., wildebeests, zebras, flock-forming birds), communal living (e.g., purple martins), or colonial behaviors (e.g., nesting birds, certain wasps, coral polyps). The data used in this study were sourced from the open-access COMADRE Animal Matrix Database (www.compadre-db.org), maintained by Associate Professor Salguero-Gómez’s research team at the University of Oxford.
Associate Professor Salguero-Gómez further noted, “In the aftermath of COVID, where the effects of isolation have been significant for humans—a notably social species—our findings highlight that, viewed through a comparative lens, increased sociality is linked to tangible benefits.”
Ongoing research in Associate Professor Salguero-Gómez’s lab aims to enhance the database and integrate the data with laboratory studies and further modeling to evaluate how social populations cope with—or struggle against—the impacts of climate change.
*Sociality is classified based on a proposed continuum that illustrates how being social is not simply binary:
- solitary: individuals live alone except during breeding, e.g., tigers
- gregarious: individuals form loose groups but have limited social interactions, e.g., wildebeests
- communal: individuals reside near one another, often sharing nesting areas, but do not breed cooperatively, e.g., purple martins
- colonial: individuals live closely together and consistently share nesting or living spaces, e.g., nesting birds
- social: individuals form stable, organized groups living in close proximity, engaging in cooperative breeding and hierarchical behaviors, e.g., elephants
