Adaptive social strategies in a solitary carnivore.

ABSTRACT: Cost-benefit trade-offs for individuals participating in social behaviors are the basis for current theories on the evolution of social behaviors and societies. However, research on social strategies has largely ignored solitary animals, in which we assume that rare interactions are explained by courtship or territoriality or, in special circumstances, resource distributions or kinship. We used directed network analysis of conspecific tolerance at food sources to provide evidence that a solitary carnivore, the puma (Puma concolor), exhibited adaptive social strategies similar to more social animals. Every puma in our analysis participated in the network, which featured densely connected communities delineated by territorial males. Territorial males also structured social interaction

SUBMITTER: Elbroch LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5636203 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature