Animal Synchrony and agents' segregation

TL;DR

This paper models animal herd dynamics using coupled oscillators to understand how synchronization and social bonds influence group stability and fragmentation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel oscillator-based model to analyze how individual phenotypic differences and social bonds affect group cohesion in social mammals.

Findings

Group cohesion decreases as coupling weakens.

Social bonds reduce the likelihood of group fragmentation.

Phenotypic differences influence synchronization and stability.

Abstract

In recent years it has become evident the need of understanding how failure of coordination imposes constraints on the size of stable groups that highly social mammals can live in. We examine here the forces that keep animals together as a herd and others that drive them apart. Different phenotypes (e.g. genders) have different rates of gut fill, causing them to spend different amounts of time performing activities. By modeling a group as a set of semi-coupled oscillators on a disc, we show that the members of the group may become less and less coupled until the group dissolves and breaks apart. We show that when social bonding creates a stickiness, or gravitational pull, between pairs of individuals, fragmentation is reduced.