Baboons Make Democratic Decisions, Study Finds
Baboons Make Democratic Decisions, Study Finds
By Amina Khan
PUBLISHED: JUNE 19 2015
Perhaps baboons should run for office. Researchers tracking a troop of wild olive baboons have found that the primates make travel decisions democratically when disagreements arise over which direction to go.
The findings, published in the journal Science, could help shed light on the evolution of group decision-making in a variety of social animals living in hierarchical structures -- humans included.
Researchers have long wondered how animals that live in complex social groups make collective decisions. For example, do certain members take the lead or not? How does a group decide what to do when two or more parties don't agree?
In theory, animals like baboons make good case studies, because they're complex individuals living in social hierarchies, and they stick together when they travel. Tracking how they decide where to go would be a good way to answer these questions.
More:
http://science.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=103005TOSNME
