The structure of social relationships among captive female giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis).

Abstract

Giraffe herds have been characterized as random associations of individuals, but recent evidence suggests giraffe have a more complex social structure. The authors formulated 3 hypotheses designed to evaluate whether a herd of captive giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) associated randomly or patterned their behavior and proximity in a manner indicative of social relationships. Affiliative interaction, proximity, and nearest neighbors for 6 captive female giraffe living in a large outdoor enclosure were analyzed, and all three measures were nonrandomly distributed, indicating female giraffe had social preferences. Furthermore, preferences were consistent across measures and time, suggesting that adult female giraffe maintain relationships. Mother-daughter pairs and pairs with large age differences between members interacted and associated most often. The social structure of this captive herd is influenced by social relationships between individual adult females, and the social behavior of individual females should be examined more closely in the wild.

Social Preferences of Translocated Giraffes (Giraffa Camelopardalis Giraffa) in Senegal: Evidence for Friendship Among Females?

“…(ii) The highest values of AI in mother-calf dyads corresponds to with findings from both captive and wild populations (Bashaw et al, 2007;Bercovitch and Berry, 2012). Giraffe cow reactions to their dead calves provide evidence that a mother-calf bond develops from birth (Bercovitch and Berry, 2012;Strauss and Muller, 2013) and may persist for years (Carter et al, 2013b).…”

“…Contrastingly, studies of giraffe relationships in captivity focused on Rothschild giraffe (G. c. rothschildi) (Bashaw, 2011;Bashaw et al, 2007;Bercovitch et al, 2006), two focused on Reticulated giraffe (Greene et al, 2006;Perry, 2011), one focused on Massai giraffe (G. c. tippelskirchi) (Tarou et al, 2000).…”

“…47 (1) 2014 juveniles. Those bonds among juveniles and older females may persist through time (Bashaw et al, 2007). Recent publication of Bashaw et al (2007) demonstrated that captive giraffe females formed complex social structure with strong relationships.…”

“…Those bonds among juveniles and older females may persist through time (Bashaw et al, 2007). Recent publication of Bashaw et al (2007) demonstrated that captive giraffe females formed complex social structure with strong relationships. Further, experimental social separation of captive giraffes proved an importance of social relationships to a specific individual (Tarou et al, 2000).…”

Social behaviors within a group of captive female Hippopotamus amphibius

“…For affiliative behaviors, all nine hippos exhibited patterns of nonrandom interactions, suggesting that the hippos were selecting their social partners. Captive female giraffe (Bashaw et al 2007) and captive female ring-tailed coatis (Romero and Aureli 2007) have also been found to exhibit nonrandom interactions between individuals within a group, and thus exhibit social structure in their groups.…”