Pinter-Wollman Noa, Isbell Lynne A, Hart Lynette A
Animal Behavior Graduate Group, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
Proc Biol Sci. 2009 Mar 22;276(1659):1009-14. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2008.1538.
Social associations with conspecifics can expedite animals' acclimation to novel environments. However, the benefits gained from sociality may change as the habitat becomes familiar. Furthermore, the particular individuals with whom animals associate upon arrival at a new place, familiar conspecifics or knowledgeable unfamiliar residents, may influence the type of information they acquire about their new home. To examine animals' social dynamics in novel habitats, we studied the social behaviour of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) translocated into a novel environment. We found that the translocated elephants' association with conspecifics decreased over time supporting our hypothesis that sociality provides added benefits in novel environments. In addition, we found a positive correlation between body condition and social association, suggesting that elephants gain direct benefits from sociality. Furthermore, the translocated elephants associated significantly less than expected with the local residents and more than expected with familiar, but not necessarily genetically related, translocated elephants. The social segregation between the translocated and resident elephants declined over time, suggesting that elephants can integrate into an existing social setting. Knowledge of the relationship between sociality and habitat familiarity is highly important in our constantly changing world to both conservation practice and our understanding of animals' behaviour in novel environments.
与同种个体的社交互动能够加速动物对新环境的适应。然而，随着栖息地变得熟悉，社交所带来的益处可能会发生变化。此外，动物在到达新地点时与之交往的特定个体，即熟悉的同种个体或有见识的陌生居民，可能会影响它们获取有关新家园信息的类型。为了研究动物在新栖息地中的社会动态，我们对被转移到新环境中的非洲象（Loxodonta africana）的社会行为进行了研究。我们发现，随着时间的推移，被转移的大象与同种个体的交往减少，这支持了我们的假设，即在新环境中社交会带来额外的益处。此外，我们发现身体状况与社交交往之间存在正相关，这表明大象从社交中获得了直接的益处。此外，被转移的大象与当地居民的交往明显少于预期，而与熟悉的、但不一定有亲缘关系的被转移大象的交往则多于预期。被转移的大象与当地居民之间的社会隔离随着时间的推移而减少，这表明大象能够融入现有的社会环境。在我们这个不断变化的世界中，了解社交与栖息地熟悉程度之间的关系对于保护实践以及我们对动物在新环境中的行为的理解都非常重要。
