Head Rubbing and Licking Reinforce Social Bonds in a Group of Captive African Lions, Panthera leo

Abstract

Many social animals have a species-specific repertoire of affiliative behaviours that characterise individualised relationships within a group. To date, however, quantitative studies on intragroup affiliative behaviours in social carnivores have been limited. Here, we investigated the social functions of the two most commonly observed affiliative behaviours in captive African lions (Panthera leo): head rubbing and licking. We conducted behavioural observations on a captive group of lions composed of 7 males and 14 females, and tested hypotheses regarding three social functions: tension reduction, social bonding, and social status expression. Disproportionately frequent male–male and female-to-male head rubbing was observed, while more than 95% of all licking interactions occurred in female–female dyads. In accordance with the social bond hypothesis, and in disagreement with the social status expression hypothesis, both head rubbing and licking interactions were reciprocal. After controlling for spatial association, the dyadic frequency of head rubbing was negatively correlated with age difference while licking was positively correlated with relatedness. Group reunion after daily separation did not affect the frequencies of the affiliative behaviours, which was in disagreement with the predictions from the tension reduction hypothesis. These results support the social bond hypothesis for the functions of head rubbing and licking. Different patterns of affiliative behaviour between the sexes may reflect differences in the relationship quality in each sex or the differential predisposition to licking due to its original function in offspring care.

Development and application of CatFACS: Are human cat adopters influenced by cat facial expressions?

“…It has been proposed to be a greeting and friendly energy releasing behaviour (Moelk, 1979), a submissive behaviour (Bradshaw et al, 2012) or having facultative functions depending on the social partner or body part used to rub. Rubbing may also be context-dependent, for example, may serve to deposit or pick up a scent, as a visual display or social signal, as a pre-copulatory interaction and/or to strengthen social bonds (Reiger, 1979;Freeman, 1983;Mellen, 1993;van den Bos and de Cock Buning, 1994;Matoba et al, 2013). It is also possible that rubbing has all of these functions at different proximate and ultimate levels (Tinbergen, 1963).…”

Pectoral fin contact as a mechanism for social bonding among dolphins

“…Social stress originates from instability in inter-individual relationships that can disrupt the cohesion in a group; competition for access to resources and reunions after separations of varying length (e.g., lions, Matoba et al, 2013) are examples of contexts that might foster tension or competition. Natural selection should favor development of signals that communicate a non-agonistic intent; greeting behaviors provide for relationship updates after separations for many species, for example, primates de Waal, 1989;Goodall, 1986), hyenas (Smith et al, 2011), and dolphins Dudzinski, 1998;Dudzinski et al, 2009;Sakai et al, 2006a).…”

“…Social contact has been identified as a tool to maintain social relationships in many species, e.g., grooming in lions (Panthera leo, Matoba, Kutsukake, & Hasegawa, 2013), non-human primates (Goodall, 1986;Majolo et al, 2012;Newton-Fisher & Lee, 2011), ungulates (Carter, Brand, Carter, Shorrocks, & Goldizen, 2013), and elephants (Fishlock & Lee, 2013). Close social associations lead to social bonding (Massen, Sterck, & de Vos, 2010), but understanding how these associations are established and managed among aquatic social mammals such as dolphins is still being clarified.…”

Social Grooming in Bats: Are Vampire Bats Exceptional?

“…Individuals can spend up to 20% of their time grooming others [ 38 ], and the behavior provides proximate physiological rewards for both givers and receiver [ 39 – 41 ]. Although most of what is known about social grooming comes from studies of primates, evidence for a role of social grooming in maintaining social ties is emerging from several other mammals (marsupials [ 42 ], deer [ 43 ], cows [ 44 ], horses [ 45 ], voles [ 46 ], mice [ 47 ], meerkats [ 48 , 49 ], coati [ 50 , 51 ], lions [ 52 ]) and group-living birds [ 53 , 54 ].…”