Researchers say this new study can help us better understand why older animals become less social than younger ones. RedDeer Scotland
Scotland’s largest deer species, the red deer, usually live in open-hill habitats year-round in groups of up to 40 individuals, accordingBut according to, aging wild red deer on the Isle of Rum in Scotland choose to live in isolated locations and become less sociable. Greg Albery of the University of Oxford, and a team of researchers found that this behavior change could help us understand social behavior in other species, including humans.
Researchers observed around 3500 female deer over their lifetimes, using a social network analysis method for a 46-year-long dataset. They found that as the female deer grew older, they interacted less with other deer and chose locations that were less populated, compared to their original home ranges. The older females also had smaller home ranges with lower-quality grazing, hidden away from the general population.
“Combining social networks with spatial location data allowed us to disentangle the potential causes of these age-related declines in social behavior, and to show how individuals change their behavior throughout their lives,” says Albery in a press release.
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