Abstract
Social mammalian predators typically forage in groups and maintain mostly consistent membership. Within the social unit, there could be a hierarchy for allocating resources and predators may benefit from hunting together than alone. An intriguing question that this book poses is whether the benefits of cooperative hunting warrant group living or whether benefits of group living predispose animals to hunt communally. Consolidation of similar species or taxa-specific studies in a comparative context can help elucidate some of the ways different researchers are approaching questions on cooperative predation and sociality. Each chapter is dedicated to a social mammalian carnivore hunting mammalian prey. In total, we provide representative examples from five terrestrial and one marine species. We have been intentionally selective in our choices to allow a holistic synthesis of knowledge and better illustration of social unit characteristics and predation strategies. We learn that the lives of these predators are shaped by resource variability, lateral and vertical information transfer, human forces, and intrinsic life history, social, and behavioral traits. We consider impacts of human and environmental change on the social habits of these predators, specifically the potential disruption of social learning when the social structure is fragmented. As an overarching goal, the book hopes to offer insights on the value of protecting social predators to maintain ecosystem resilience.
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Srinivasan, M., Würsig, B. (2023). Animals That Stay Together, Hunt Together. In: Srinivasan, M., Würsig, B. (eds) Social Strategies of Carnivorous Mammalian Predators. Fascinating Life Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29803-5_1
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