Harem stallions defend the females and safeguard their harems versus predators and the bachelor males, which are non-breeding males without a hareem. Credit: Katalin Ozogány
The findings reveal that wild horses, similar to human beings, reside in a complex, multilevel society. The organization and even previous and future shifts in group characteristics can be analyzed using high-definition aerial video footage.
Researchers from the Hungarian Research Network (HUN-REN), the University of Debrecen (UD), the Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), and the Hortobágy National Park Directorate studied the social characteristics of the Przewalskis horse herd in Hortobágy. They utilized drone innovation integrated with comprehensive population keeping an eye on data for their analysis.
By deploying two drones, the group carefully kept an eye on the movements of the herd of 278 Przewalskis horses with high temporal and spatial resolution, while separately recognizing many of the animals. The results reveal that wild horses, similar to human beings, live in a complex, multilevel society, the structure of which and even group modifications in the past and future can be comprehended with the assistance of high-resolution aerial videos.
The paper presenting the research was published in the prominent scientific journal Nature Communications.
In Hortobágy National Park, Hungary, hareems of Przewalskis horses come together to form a large multilevel herd. Each harem consists of a single male– the hareem stallion– and several women and their juvenile offspring. Credit: Katalin Ozogány
Investigating the social habits of a large group of animals is lengthy work if one utilizes classical observation techniques. However, the study released in Nature Communications highlights that by gathering high-resolution data, even a few minutes of video of animal motions can provide sufficient info to learn more about the social structure of the population and even draw conclusions about the future and past characteristics of the group.
” We desired to examine the group motions of the Przewalskis horse herd in Hortobágy, Hungary. Observing almost 300 horses at the exact same time is not an easy task,” states Katalin Ozogány, the first author of the study, a member of the HUN-REN– UD Behavioural Ecology Research Group of the Hungarian Research Network and the University of Debrecen (Hungary). “We took aerial videos of the herd utilizing drones while they were walking around the reserve, and based upon the video footage, we identified the movement paths of all the individuals of the herd with high spatiotemporal resolution.”
Multilevel societies
The multilevel social structure that is likewise characteristic of human beings is unusual in animals. It is generally discovered in primates but likewise takes place in cetaceans, elephants, and some ungulates that people form smaller sized household groups (for instance harems or a group of related females led by a matriarch), and these household groups form a larger, looser neighborhood.
youtube.com/watch?v=H2BhFjEbZDEVideo abstract of the research. Credit: University of Debreceni
Przewalskis horses have been living in Hortobágy considering that 1997 in the Pentezug reserve. In the very first years after founding the population, the hareems of wild horses lived in their own home varieties and seldom interacted with each other. For over a decade, however, the hareems together form a big herd, in which hareems can still be differentiated, however they move together in the reserve. The researchers studied the group motions of this complex herd, comprised of hareems.
Analysis of cumulative motions reveals social behavior
Analysis of the herds movements yielded unexpected outcomes. “The individuals of the group coordinate their motions and align with each other, and by discovering these great interactions in between the people, it ended up that we can evaluate the herds social media network based upon the group movements,” discusses lead author Máté Nagy, head of the Collective Behaviour Lendület Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Eötvös Loránd University (Hungary).
Przewalskis horses are the last living subspecies of wild horses, belonging to Mongolia. Their Mongolian name “takhi” suggests “spirit”. Credit: Katalin Ozogány
The scientists combined the short-term movement observations of a few minutes with the long-term population keeping track of information of the national forest going back 2 decades. Considering that the establishment of the reserve, the wild horses have been individually recognized by the park staff who regularly collected data on population changes. “Thanks to population tracking, we understand the parentage of the animals, which we also validate with hereditary tasting, as well as their location in the social system, that is, we routinely record which individual comes from which harem,” states co-author Viola Kerekes, job leader of the Hortobágy National Park Directorate.
The herds social network
The analyses revealed that the social relations of wild horses are associated to kinship and familiarity of the animals. Female horses (mares) are closer to each other in the social network if they have actually been hareem mates for a longer time.
Kinship might play a significant function in the organization of harems into herds considering that hareems of brother or sister stallions (the single breeding male in a harem) are closer to each other in the social network than hareems of unrelated stallions. Between the closer hareems, at the very same time, the dispersal of mares was higher, which likewise adds to the relations in between harems through familiarity.
” It is an extraordinary opportunity to explore the social media network of an entire population and its characteristics,” describes co-author Attila Fülöp, a researcher at the Babeş-Bolyai University (Romania) and the HUN-REN– UD Behavioural Ecology Research Group. It ended up that older and bigger hareems, which usually belong to older and more experienced stallions, inhabit more main places in the herds social media network. A possible description is that harem stallions form an alliance to protect their harems better against the bachelor males.
Future group dynamics
” One of the unexpected results of the study is that we can infer future group characteristics by observing current movement,” adds Zoltán Barta, lead author, head of the Department of Evolutionary Zoology of the University of Debrecen and the HUN-REN– UD Behavioural Ecology Research Group.
The researchers revealed that mares that resided in different hareems at the time of the aerial observations however became hareem mates within 2 years after the observations, were currently relocating more similar paths than the other mares. Through the motion analysis, it was also possible to conclude which mares will leave their harem in the next 2 years and which harem they will transfer to.
” Not just did we find out new, previously unknown details about the social life of Przewalskis horses, but we highlighted that drone observations, which can be applied even in wild populations, can supply really detailed details.”
Referral: “Fine-scale cumulative movements expose present, future and past characteristics of a multilevel society in Przewalskis horses” by Katalin Ozogány, Viola Kerekes, Attila Fülöp, Zoltán Barta and Máté Nagy, 5 September 2023, Nature Communications.DOI: 10.1038/ s41467-023-40523-3.
In Hortobágy National Park, Hungary, hareems of Przewalskis horses come together to form a large multilevel herd. Each hareem consists of a single male– the harem stallion– and several women and their juvenile offspring. For over a years, nevertheless, the harems together form a large herd, in which harems can still be differentiated, but they move together in the reserve. The researchers studied the group motions of this complex herd, made up of harems.
A possible explanation is that harem stallions form an alliance to secure their hareems more successfully versus the bachelor males.