Social behavior is defined as behavior among members of the same species where individuals affect one another through interaction. It benefits groups by providing protection from predators through safety in numbers and cooperative hunting. Well-developed social behavior is seen in insect societies like ants that live in large colonies with different individuals specialized in tasks like building, foraging, or protecting the colony. Types of social behavior include aggressive behavior used for defense, agonistic behavior where individuals threaten each other, parental behavior caring for offspring, and altruistic behavior where individuals sacrifice for the benefit of others like giving alarm calls to warn groups of crows.

1. What is Social Behavior?
Types of Social Behavior

2. WHAT IS SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR?
Social: Being social means having relationship
with society or its organization.
Behavior: The way in which an animal
behaves in response to a particular situation or
stimulus that comes from the environment.

3. DEFINITION
Social behavior is behavior
among two or more
organisms within the same
species and encompasses any
behavior in which one
member affects the other.
This is due to an interaction
among those members.

4. BENEFITS
Major benefit of belonging to a group. It gives protection against predators. There is
safety in numbers. Several group members warn each other about an intruder.
Cooperative hunting and capturing of prey increase the feeding efficiency of
predators.
Social grouping protects its members from harsh environment. They huddle
together in cold weather.
The members of the social groups help each other for finding mate and rearing of
young.

5. EXAMPLE: Insect Societies
Well-developed social behavior is exhibited by insects such as ants, termites,
bees, and wasps.
 Many of these species live in colonies with thousands.
 Different individuals specialize in certain activities.
 Some are workers who build the colony and go out looking for food
 Other individuals are the soldiers of the colony to protect the colony from
possible attacks
The queen's only job for her entire life is to lay eggs that the workers will
care for.

7. Types of Social Behaviour
Social behavior characterizes the interactions that
occur among individuals. These can be
Aggressive
Agonistic
Altruistic
Parental

8. Aggressive Behavior
Forceful behavior used to
dominate another animal
Used to defend young,
territory, food
Teeth baring, growling, bird
calls

9. Parental Behavior
 Many young depend on their parents
for survival
 Some adult birds bring food to their
young because they cannot feed
themselves
 Other animals, like the killer whale,
spend years teaching their young
how to hunt for food

10. Agonistic Behavior
Behavior in which one animal is aggressive or attacks
another animal, the other responds by returning the
aggression
Symbolic, usually no harm done
The males show their aggression in the form of threat
displays.
The aggression displays involve signals.
It warns other males of an intention to defend an area
or territory.
e.g. territoriality, dominance hierarchy

11. Altruistic Behavior
Behavior in which an individual
sacrifices some of its own
reproductive potential to benefit
another individual
Appear most obviously in
kin relationships, as in parenting
 Increases reproductive potential
 Helps relative and young ones in
their survival.

12. Example: Altruism in crows
One individual of a group of crows
gives an alarm call.
 Warns the other individuals of the
group of a predator.
Call may attract the predator to the
sender of the signal.