Cooperating elephants mitigate competition until the stakes get too high.
PLoS Biol
; 19(9): e3001391, 2021 09.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34582437
ABSTRACT
Cooperation is ubiquitous in the animal kingdom as it aims to maximize benefits through joint action. Selection, however, may also favor competitive behaviors that could violate cooperation. How animals mitigate competition is hotly debated, with particular interest in primates and little attention paid thus far to nonprimates. Using a loose-string pulling apparatus, we explored cooperative and competitive behavior, as well as mitigation of the latter, in semi-wild Asian elephants (Elephas maximus). Our results showed that elephants first maintained a very high cooperation rate (average = 80.8% across 45 sessions). Elephants applied "block," "fight back," "leave," "move side," and "submission" as mitigation strategies and adjusted these strategies according to their affiliation and rank difference with competition initiators. They usually applied a "fight back" mitigation strategy as a sanction when competition initiators were low ranking or when they had a close affiliation, but were submissive if the initiators were high ranking or when they were not closely affiliated. However, when the food reward was limited, the costly competitive behaviors ("monopoly" and "fight") increased significantly, leading to a rapid breakdown in cooperation. The instability of elephant cooperation as a result of benefit reduction mirrors that of human society, suggesting that similar fundamental principles may underlie the evolution of cooperation across species.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Comportamento Competitivo
/
Comportamento Cooperativo
/
Elefantes
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
PLoS Biol
Assunto da revista:
BIOLOGIA
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Mianmar