Primate social group sizes exhibit a regular scaling pattern with natural attractors.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Dunbar RIM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5803586 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Primate social group sizes exhibit a regular scaling pattern with natural attractors.
Dunbar R I M RIM Mac Carron Padraig P Shultz Susanne S
Biology letters 20180101 1
Primate groups vary considerably in size across species. Nonetheless, the distribution of mean species group size has a regular scaling pattern with preferred sizes approximating 2.5, 5, 15, 30 and 50 individuals (although strepsirrhines lack the latter two), with a scaling ratio of approximately 2.5 similar to that observed in human social networks. These clusters appear to form distinct social grades that are associated with rapid evolutionary change, presumably in response to intense environm ...[more]
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