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Dryad

Wild kangaroos become more social when caring for young and may maintain long-term affiliations with popular individuals

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Dec 02, 2022 version files 103.26 KB
Sep 07, 2023 version files 103.26 KB

Abstract

Kangaroos are an iconic group of Australian fauna. Despite considerable research on kangaroo behaviour, key gaps remain in our understanding of their social organization in the wild. In particular, it remains largely unknown whether kangaroos form long-term social bonds and what factors might prompt individuals to associate or dissociate from one another. Over 6 years, we monitored the social affiliations of individually identified eastern grey kangaroos, Macropus giganteus, in a large wild population. We investigated the short-term and long-term relationships of kangaroos and the extent those relationships varied with age, sex and reproductive state. We found evidence that long-term relationships among eastern grey kangaroos are possible, especially between adult females. Those individuals that were more sociable within years were also more likely to establish affiliations across years. Contrary to previous studies, we observed females actively associating with other mothers in the years in which they had young. These data suggest that the fission-fusion dynamics of eastern grey kangaroo social behaviour allow females to modulate their social position with conspecifics according to their current reproductive state. We highlight the adaptive implications of the formation of long-term bonds and the changes in social behaviour observed in females.