On The Move. How And Why Animals Travel In Groups

Getting from here to there may be simple for one individual. But as any parent, scout leader, or CEO knows, herding a whole troop in one direction is a lot more complicated. Who leads the group? Who decides where the group will travel, and using what information? How do they accomplish these tasks? On the Move addresses these questions, examining the social, cognitive, and ecological processes that underlie patterns and strategies of group travel. Chapters discuss how factors such as group size, resource distribution and availability, the costs of travel, predation, social cohesion, and cognitive skills affect how individuals as well as social groups exploit their environment. Most chapters focus on field studies of a wide range of human and nonhuman primate groups, from squirrel monkeys to Turkana pastoralists, but chapters covering group travel in hyenas, birds, dolphins, and bees provide a broad taxonomic perspective and offer new insights into comparative questions, such as whether primates are unique in their ability to coordinate group-level activities. "Most animals need to travel in order to get enough to eat, and if they live in a group, they need to coordinate their movements. We see the process in action each time a flock of birds flies by, but as this book explains in greater detail and for a greater variety of animals than any other, there are fascinating problems of cognition, planning, and energy expenditure to be considered. After reading this impressive collection, no one will take animal movement for granted as something simple." -Frans B. M. de Waal, Emory University; author of Good Natured and Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape "The well-coordinated movement of individual animals, and the apparently well-planned movement of animal groups, have for years presented a challenge to scientists. How did such behavior evolve? In response to food? Predation? More intriguing, how is such coordination achieved? And what does it tell us about the 'knowledge' that different species possess about their environment? On the Move offers a superb collection of papers on the evolution and mechanisms underlying group travel in primates, insects, dolphins, and humans. Its publication marks a significant change in our understanding of this difficult topic." -Robert M. Seyfarth, University of Pennsylvania; coauthor of How Monkeys see the world: Inside the mind of another species.