Success is all about who you know - if you're a hyena

20 May 2015 - 16:07 By Times LIVE
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Image: Gallo Images/ Thinkstock

Hyena society is all about social networking, according to a report.

Sciencemag reports that spotted hyenas are very choosy about who they pal around with, forming tight bonds only with specific clan members who are friends of their friends.

According to the report, this ability to form 'cohesive clusters' is highly important in maintaining their social structure, which can accommodate about 100 individuals.

After analysing more than 50,000 observations of social interactions between hyenas over 20 years at Kenya's Maasai Mara National Reserve, researchers found that while the hyena's sex, social rank and environmental factors all played a role in the animals' social dynamics, it was the individual hyena's ability to make and keep friends that really made the difference.

The researchers' study, which was published in Ecology Letters, used a new modelling method which the researchers say could help other scientists understand the social side of other species - including us.

We too form 'cohesive clusters'.

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