Last Laugh

Social cooperation may explain why spotted hyenas can even outperform chimps at some complex tasks

Hyenas have never enjoyed a good reputation and that applies equally well to the largest of them, the spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta). One reason may just be good old-fashioned male chauvinism—they are the only matriarchal society among the carnivores and one of the few among all mammals. A dominant female rules a clan that can comprise as many as 90 animals organised in a complex social network where rank in the matriarchal hierarchy is more a question of alliances than of size or aggression. Research has now shown that this complex society, which also hunts as a group, has bred social problem solving abilities that allow spotted hyenas to outperform even chimpanzees in laboratory tests. This suggests that part of our own cognitive skills may well come from our own social organisation in the wild.

Research by Christine Drea, a Duke University evolutionary anthropologist, published online in the October issue of Animal Behavior showed that ‘Eight captive hyenas, paired in 13 combinations, coordinated their behaviour … to solve cooperation tasks that modelled group-hunting strategies. The pair was required to tug two ropes in unison to earn a food reward. Each team was faced with a choice of two platforms with two ropes dangling down. Each pair had to pick one platform and pull both ropes in unison to be rewarded with bone chips and meatballs. “The first pair walked in to the pen and figured it out in less than two minutes,” Drea said. “My jaw literally dropped.” Not only did the hyena pair solve the problems, once they learnt to do so, the experienced hyenas were able to teach the naive ones to do the task. The one exception was when two dominant females were paired. Unsurprisingly, like two dominant humans, they were not good at cooperating with each other.

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Hartosh Singh Bal