The dynamics of social cohesion in response to simulated intergroup conflict in banded mongooses.

ABSTRACT: Intergroup conflict is widespread in nature and is proposed to have strong impacts on the evolution of social behavior. The conflict-cohesion hypothesis predicts that exposure to intergroup conflict should lead to increased social cohesion to improve group success or resilience in future conflicts. There is evidence to support this prediction from studies of affiliative responses to outgroup threats in some animal societies. However, most of these studies have focused on behavioral changes over short time periods (minutes and hours after exposure to an outgroup), and hence very little is known about the dynamics and durability of responses to intergroup conflict over the longer term. We investigated this question by simulating intergroup encounters in wild banded mongooses (Mungos mungo

SUBMITTER: Preston EFR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8717285 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature