Drivers of variation in social interactions

In social species across the animal kingdom, interactions between group members and with conspecific outsiders are a constant aspect of life.

A wide array of cooperative and antagonistic acts occurs daily, but there is considerable unexplained variation in the extent to which different individuals are involved.

This PhD will investigate life-history, social and climatic drivers of this variation, using long-term and experimental data from two complementary study populations of dwarf mongooses (Helogale parvula) and rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta).

There is the possibility to consider, for example, how early-life experiences, age, social-network position, group instability, threats from outsiders, extreme temperatures and droughts affect social interactions.

The project also includes time with CASE partner Humble Bee Films, learning about how academic research is translated into natural-history films and the value of archive footage for research.