In the wild, it is survival of the fittest, so goes the phrase. But according to new research conducted by Dr. Roslyn Dakin, an animal behaviour researcher at Carleton, cooperation and even close friendship is the reality for some species.
Working in collaboration with Smithsonian research scientist Dr. Brandt Ryder, Dakin found the wire-tailed manakins evolved to develop a social network, which improved their chances of reproduction.
Native to the Amazon Rainforest the researchers observed that male wire-tailed manakins have acquired an unusual evolutionary cooperative behaviour, that not only helps them rise in the social ladder to gain territory but also increases their reproductive success.
The behaviour seemed “really bizarre” at first, said Dakin.
“There is no obvious function to help them survive,” she said. “But what we have found in the past is that the males who have the most male friends are the ones who are the most likely to mate, so females seem to prefer males that are socially more adept.”
Dakin’s research focused on “what makes these partnerships between these males last through time.” She found that the relationships that lasted the longest were the stable friendships between the male birds that came together most often.
“Those relationships also were the most likely to last through time,” she said. The benefits manakins get out of their friendships exist in human relationships too.
An Evolutionary perspective
According to Patrick Barclay, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of Guelph, people evolved to have friends because there are benefits to it. These benefits led to the evolutionary selection of people who like having friends.
“From a proximate perspective, we have friends because we enjoy them, their company gives us pleasure. The reason that we gain pleasure from their company is because there are tangible benefits to having those friends,” he said.
One of the benefits people gain from having friends is opportunities to cooperate with other people, added Barclay. “Two people cooperating with each other can do much better than somebody who tries to go solo.”
“If you have more connections and you have the ability to reciprocate, then it becomes too difficult for you to maintain those connections through time.”
Roslyn Dakin, animal behavior researcher at Carleton
A trait such as empathy leads people to want to work with other people and this evolved among humans according to Barclay.
Birds and Humans
“Friendships, and human connection more broadly, are vital to people’s well-being and health. People who report being lonely have greater health risks over time,” said Dr. Cheryl Harasymchuk, Carleton’s student experience chair in the Department of Psychology in an email.
“Social network size varies between people. In terms of health benefits, research suggests that it matters less about how many friends a person has in their network and more about the quality of those friendships.”
According to a report on friendship which surveyed 10,000 people across nine countries published by Snap Inc. in 2019, The average number of best friends across the world is 4.3. The average number of good friends is 7.2, and the average number of acquaintances is 20.4.
According to Dr Dakin, these cooperative wire-tailed manakins have a social limit to how many wingmen or friendships they can healthily maintain. Although their reproductive success relies on these little birds’ cooperative friendships, they, like humans, need to maintain these bonds and put time and effort into creating strong bonds that can last as long as up to several years.
If you have a lot of friends, you’re less likely to maintain them, added Dakin.
“We think we think it has to do with the process of reciprocating partnerships,” she said. “If you have more connections and you have the ability to reciprocate, then it becomes too difficult for you to maintain those connections through time.”
Mac Cheung, a third-year aerospace engineering student said that he has a large group of friends he regularly meets with, but he wouldn’t want to add or reduce the number of friends he has.
“It’s hard to find people that share interest and I’ve already found that so I’d like to keep good relations with those kinds of people,” he said. “I mean I kind of focus on certain groups more than others already, so I don’t want less it’s just, I need to allocate my time.”
According to Dr. Harasymchuk, the quality of the friendship a person has matters more than the number of friends they have.
“I can imagine a situation where a person tries to maintain too many acquaintanceships and friendships and, as a consequence, that might potentially hinder the quality of some of their more important friendships. Also, if there is too much focus on others, self-care might be negatively impacted,” she said.
Natasha Kim, a third-year aerospace and engineering student said that if she had the option of having a larger number of friends with more potential benefits, she would rather opt for a group of smaller friends with closer connections.
“I don’t want it to be bigger because that means I have to spend more time to have an interest with [more people],” she said. “I’m just lazy to talk to people normally.”
Isaac Tabachnick, another third-year aerospace engineering student at Carleton, said the size of his friend group depends on where he is. In his hometown, social groups can involve as many as 10 people at a time. But in Ottawa, he spends more time with people one-on-one, because he doesn’t “have as many people here.”
More or less Connections?
Dakin’s research also suggests you can go too far the other way. In other words, having too much connectivity can be bad for long term relationships.
“Although we didn’t study humans, what our results suggests is that increase in connectivity is potentially bad for our ability to reciprocate friendships and maintain stability in the long term,” she said.
Tabachnick, Kim and Cheung, agreed that having a close group of friends is easier to maintain than a wide group of friends because of the time and energy required to maintain friendships.
Working out the right balance is a question both students, and researchers like Dakin, continue to ponder.
“We’re interested in the questions about how cooperation works–how do cooperative systems, how do cooperative societies maintain their stability?”
Graphic by Farhan Tasin. With files from Marieta-rita Osezua.
