“ Birds of a feather flock together ” is a saying that subsist in a number of different languages . “ Gambá cheira gambá ” ( opossum smell other opossums ) in Brazilian Portuguese is a particularly colourful example . The reason is that like - disposed multitude like to hang out together across many culture . And it seems the same is true of baboons .
Baboons ’ preference to drop clip with alike personality case was revealed in astudy of wild chacma baboonsin Namibia . It found that the monkeys typically associate with other baboons base on personality type , geezerhood , rank and propensity to generate or use information . However , the field also discover that this kind of cliquey behaviour blockade information share-out . For example , shy , richly - ranking baboon often missed out on where to find the latest food sources as that information was typically hold by bolder and younger baboons .
Perhaps there is a lesson there for us humans , reminding us that receive a diverse bent of friends may in reality be an asset ?
societal media internet site such as Facebook are supposed to bedemocratising the worldas they provide us with greater contact between individuals . In theory we have access to a cosmos of data . But let ’s be honest , our choice of acquaintance is often guided by our pastime , age and backgrounds . No one person ’s Facebook is a random sampling of the populace ’s population . Therefore the information shared is limited .
More than 90 % of my friends on Facebook are life scientist but I do not have friends who bring in government . This means that while I get the inner scoop on what is happening in biology – political science lean to take me by surprisal . That ’s not to say that associating with individuals of similar case does n’t make a great bargain of sense . Along with being a biologist I am also a founding father of two small child and therefore hang out with the parent of my Kyd ’ friends , who are a nifty source of friendly relationship and support .
But while it may be easy to see why people like to form camp , it is less obvious why animals do this . distaff primates with young offspringoften organise a social group . Some of the benefits of this are practical – such as chance for their materialisation to play together – but it may also be driven by the unique challenges this group of individuals faces . big male are more fluid than female person , which creates an uneven competition for access to intellectual nourishment . But as a group , these females are able-bodied to jointly look for intellectual nourishment away from the male .
The study come up that in chacma baboon it is younger and bolder individuals that typically try something new such as a strange food item or innovate in how to get at a newfangled food resource . The researchers were able to determine these associations by look at who groomed who . order Primates practice grooming not only for hygiene , but also to make friends .
Similarly , study in Pisces have suggested that incontrovertible affiliation bypersonality typemay increase cooperation between individuals – such as bolder individuals approaching a vulture together to see if it is hungry or not . But if you are a shy mortal , not consort with bold peers you might be in trouble because you ’ll have no way of recognize that the predator is hungry .
Survival versus enlightenment
I get on the same train every day to work out and therefore sit next to people who have the same working time of day in roughly the same geographic location . But as this association is a affair of secular and geographic convenience they do not charm what I do . However , I do take the highly select information I get from my friends gravely and may act as upon it – if it is in my benefit .
For most societal mintage , having the correct variety of friends – which often imply friends with standardised personality – will enhance their chance of survival . But this may come at the price of special entropy flow .
The irony of living in a social internet where info could flow freely is that by choosing your friends you throttle your approach to info . So before you unfriend that someone on Facebook for uploading yet another “ peculiar ” cat television : remember variety is the source of information and not of necessity the spice of sprightliness .
Robert John Youngis Professor of Wildlife Conservation atUniversity of Salford .
This clause was primitively published onThe Conversation . Read theoriginal clause .
Image byDennis Jarvisunder Creative Commons permission
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