The Warmth of Sarudango: Modelling the Huddling Behaviour of Japanese Macaques (Macaca fuscata)

Abstract

Huddling behaviour is observed across various mammalian and avian species. Huddling, a behaviour wherein animals maintain close physical contact with conspecifics for warmth and social bonding, is widely documented among species in cold environments as a crucial thermoregulatory mechanism. Interestingly, on Shodoshima, Japanese macaques form exceptionally large huddling clusters, often exceeding 50 individuals, a significant deviation from the smaller groups observed in other populations (Arashyama, Katsuyama, and Taksakiyama) and climates. This study aims to uncover the mechanisms behind the formation and size of these huddling clusters, proposing that such behaviours can be explained by simple probabilistic rules influenced by environmental conditions, the current cluster size, and individual decisions. Employing a computational model developed in Netlogo, we seek to demonstrate how emergent properties like the formation and dissolution of clusters arise from collective individual actions. We investigate whether the observed differences in huddling behaviour, particularly the larger cluster sizes on Shodoshima compared to those in colder habitats, reflect variations in social tolerance and cohesion. The model incorporates factors such as environmental temperature, cluster size, and individual decision-making, offering insights into the adaptability of social behaviours under environmental pressures. The findings suggest that temperature plays a crucial role in influencing huddling behaviour, with larger clusters forming in colder climates as individuals seek warmth. However, the study also highlights the importance of joining and leaving a cluster in terms of probability in the dynamics of huddling behaviour. We discussed the large clusters on Shodoshima as a result of a combination of environmental factors and a unique social tolerance and cohesion among the macaques. This study contributes to our understanding of complex social phenomena through the lens of self-organisation, illustrating how simple local interactions can give rise to intricate social structures and behaviours.