![]() This provided a perfect opportunity to test if these personality cues might help explain how flamingos find their friendship groups.įionnuala McCully was recruited to address this question as part of her masters in animal behaviour. There were the popular kids, the bullies, the quiet ones in the corner… always the same birds and nearly always together. Throughout his project studying long term flamingo friendships, Paul noticed flamingos living on Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) reserves (and indeed those that live in zoos) formed cliques not unlike children in a playground. Personality impacts friend choice in many species such as chimpanzees (and, of course, humans). Some of them do it by body length, for example guppies, others by age, such as in albatrosses. Animals choose their companions according to all sort of rules. Paul was keen to learn why the flamingos formed friendships with some birds but not others. Wise humans know you can’t be friends with everyone. These relationships can last for decades. ![]() Flamingos will form both platonic and maybe even sexual bonds with birds of the same sex and can form mixed sexed trios and quartets. They spend their time with preferred companions and depend on them for support during squabbles with rivals.Ī flamingo’s inner circle can include their breeding partner plus several friends. Paul Rose’s previous work indicates captive flamingos are as picky about their friends as we are. Like us, flamingos have a need to be social, are long lived ( sometimes into their 80s) and form enduring friendships. ![]() Our team’s new research found that while flamingos appear to live in a very different world to humans, they form cliques much like human ones. We can see ourselves reflected in the behaviour of cuddling chimpanzees, but a new wave of research is showing less relatable animals have pals too. ![]() So it’s unsurprising humans delight in seeing such closeness between animals. This article by Fionnuala McCully, from the University’s School of Environmental Sciences, and Paul Rose, from the University of Exeter, was first published by The Conversation:Īs social animals we have an innate understanding of the joy a good friendship can bring. ![]()
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