Variable social organization is ubiquitous in Artiodactyla and probably evolved from pair-living ancestors.

ABSTRACT: Previous studies to understand the evolution of interspecific variation in mammalian social organization (SO; composition of social units) produced inconsistent results, possibly by ignoring intraspecific variation. Here we present systematic data on SO in artiodactyl populations, coding SO as solitary, pair-living, group-living, sex-specific or variable (different kinds of SOs in the same population). We found that 62% of 245 populations and 83% of species (83/100) exhibited variable SO. Using Bayesian phylogenetic mixed-effects models, we simultaneously tested whether research effort, habitat, sexual dimorphism, breeding seasonality or body size predicted the likelihood of different SOs and inferred the ancestral SO. Body size and sexual dimorphism were strongly associated

SUBMITTER: Jaeggi AV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7282923 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature