Complex Society in Birds
(Photo : Photo by Jevgenijs Slihto on Foter.com / CC BY) Once thought to be exclusive mostly in mammals, a study on Vulturine Guineafowl proves that even creatures with small brains can develop multilevel societies.

Birds are often thought of as creatures with lesser intellect that mammals because of their small brains. So often that the term "bird brained" was coined to describe a dim-witted person. However, birds have often proven otherwise that they, too, possess incredible intelligence such is with the case of the New Caledonian crow. 

Although birds are highly social animals, scientists have never seen an occurrence of a complex society within the species. It was believed that complex societies are made possible by creatures with large brains such as primates (humans included), dolphins, elephants, and giraffes. 

It was until recently that researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and the University of Konstanz discovered that multilevel societies could also happen in birds, and these societies occur with the species that they have least expected - the Vulturine Guineafowl.

AN ORNITHOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGH

Acryllium vulturinum, or most commonly known as the Vulturine Guineafowl is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as Least Concern, meaning, the species is still abundant in the wild. While looking viciously like a vulture, the Vulturine Guineafowl is actually of the chicken (both species belonging to family Gallidae) and are closely related to the dinosaurs. This species occurs in Africa mostly in the northern and eastern Ethiopia, the southwestern region of Somalia, the drylands of northern and eastern Kenya, and the northeastern side of Tanzania.

Maybe because of its Least Concern status, the Vulturine Guineafowl is among the species that are not observed frequently by ornithologists. A study published recently at Currently Biology sheds light on the existence of a multilevel society in this species.

This discovery greatly challenges the thought that large brains are the prerequisite in forming the ability to create complex societies because the Vulturine Guineafowl is known to have a relatively smaller brain compared to other bird species.

A multilevel society can be observed when the societal units form groups with a relatively permanent membership, and these groups can associate themselves with another group. An article published on NCBI explains that multilevel societies are characterized by social stratification with one central unit. It can also be observed that in a multilevel society, and individual species interact or associate with more than one group. This is widely common in Cetaceans and Primates, both of which are mammals. In birds, however, the groups are not as systematic oftentimes individual species would come together for only a short period of time.

The Vulturine Guineafowl is an exemption to this behavior. The researchers found out that this species of bird is able to "behave cohesively with other groups exhibiting minor aggression." According to Danai Papageorgiou, a Ph.D. student at the institute and lead author of the study, the Vulturine Guineafowl have everything to be able to form complex social structures. It is a wonder for Danai that there are no studies previously done about these small, unassuming species of bird.

DOING THE GROUNDBREAKING STUDY

In order for Danai and her team to support the claims of their study, they tracked social relationships during the course of the cross seasons for the 400-species population of Vulturine Guineafowl. After marking these birds, the team discovered that there are at least 18 distinct social groups within the population that are comprised of 13 to 65 individuals each. 

The groups were observed to be stable even when non-related groups overlap the territory day-in and day-out. The researchers then placed GPS devices to select individuals from each group to be able to observe and record the position of every group. Through this methodology, the researchers found out that these groups have associated with each other according to preferences and that intergroup associations happen in specific seasons and particular landscape.