Describing Social Relationships and their Formation in the Octodon Degu
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Category
Social Sciences/Humanities
Abstract/Artist Statement
Relationships are a necessary part of group formation and cohesion across many animal species and can increase the health and fitness of the individuals involved. How relationships develop over time is relatively unknown. Past research has tracked the process through which strangers meet and establish certain types of relationships. However, there is little known about the patterns or sequences of behavior that indicate the formation of a new relationship. To investigate these social processes, we studied the first interactions of two degus, a highly gregarious rodent native to Chile. Each degu experienced 10 sessions where they were placed in a neutral enclosure with either a familiar or unfamiliar same-sex conspecific and allowed to freely interact for 20 minutes. Each session was manually scored with a list of potential interaction behaviors this species uses (the ethogram). The behaviors in the ethogram were then used to create behavioral dimensions: frequency of interactions, total time spent interacting, variability across sessions, symmetry, and diversity of behaviors used. We found that both the familiar and unfamiliar female dyads interacted more during their first session than subsequent sessions. Additionally, unfamiliar female dyads displayed less variability in subsequent sessions than familiar female dyads. This result is contrary to what we predicted and indicates that the more familiar the members of a dyad are with one another, the more variation in how much their interactions with each other from session to session. Unfamiliar male dyads also displayed more variety in their time spent interacting between sessions than familiar male dyads. This result suggests that when males interact with familiar others, they are more consistent from one interaction to the next than unfamiliar males do. The findings presented support that there are clear markers of relationships and their progression. There seem to be fundamental differences between how different relationships change and are resolved over experience. The behavioral dimensions identified here may have a large impact on how researchers study and understand relationship formation in animals.
Mentor Name
Nathan Insel
Describing Social Relationships and their Formation in the Octodon Degu
UC North Ballroom
Relationships are a necessary part of group formation and cohesion across many animal species and can increase the health and fitness of the individuals involved. How relationships develop over time is relatively unknown. Past research has tracked the process through which strangers meet and establish certain types of relationships. However, there is little known about the patterns or sequences of behavior that indicate the formation of a new relationship. To investigate these social processes, we studied the first interactions of two degus, a highly gregarious rodent native to Chile. Each degu experienced 10 sessions where they were placed in a neutral enclosure with either a familiar or unfamiliar same-sex conspecific and allowed to freely interact for 20 minutes. Each session was manually scored with a list of potential interaction behaviors this species uses (the ethogram). The behaviors in the ethogram were then used to create behavioral dimensions: frequency of interactions, total time spent interacting, variability across sessions, symmetry, and diversity of behaviors used. We found that both the familiar and unfamiliar female dyads interacted more during their first session than subsequent sessions. Additionally, unfamiliar female dyads displayed less variability in subsequent sessions than familiar female dyads. This result is contrary to what we predicted and indicates that the more familiar the members of a dyad are with one another, the more variation in how much their interactions with each other from session to session. Unfamiliar male dyads also displayed more variety in their time spent interacting between sessions than familiar male dyads. This result suggests that when males interact with familiar others, they are more consistent from one interaction to the next than unfamiliar males do. The findings presented support that there are clear markers of relationships and their progression. There seem to be fundamental differences between how different relationships change and are resolved over experience. The behavioral dimensions identified here may have a large impact on how researchers study and understand relationship formation in animals.