@article{b0c7a9f8777d4b64be7a1cc1ae30a12e,
title = "Consensus of travel direction is achieved by simple copying, not voting, in free-ranging goats",
abstract = "For group-living animals to remain cohesive they must agree on where to travel. Theoretical models predict shared group decisions should be favoured, and a number of empirical examples support this. However, the behavioural mechanisms that underpin shared decision-making are not fully understood. Groups may achieve consensus of direction by active communication of individual preferences (i.e. voting), or by responding to each other's orientation and movement (i.e. copying). For example, African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) are reported to use body orientation to vote and indicate their preferred direction to achieve a consensus on travel direction, while golden shiners (Notemigonus crysoleucas) achieve consensus of direction by responding to the movement cues of their neighbours. Here, we present a conceptual model (supported by agent-based simulations) that allows us to distinguish patterns of motion that represent voting or copying. We test our model predictions using high-resolution GPS and magnetometer data collected from a herd of free-ranging goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) in the Namib Desert, Namibia. We find that decisions concerning travel direction were more consistent with individuals copying one another's motion and find no evidence to support the use of voting with body orientation. Our findings highlight the role of simple behavioural rules for collective decision-making by animal groups.",
keywords = "collective behaviour, coordination, decision-making, heuristics, rules-of-thumb, self-organization",
author = "Sankey, {D. W.E.} and O'Bryan, {L. R.} and S. Garnier and G. Cowlishaw and P. Hopkins and M. Holton and I. F{\"u}rtbauer and King, {A. J.}",
note = "Funding Information: Ethics. All applicable international, national and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. Work was conducted under a Ministry of Environment and Tourism research permit (Research/ Collecting Permit 2009/2015) and was approved by the Rutgers Newark Animal Care and Use Committee. Data accessibility. Data and relevant code for this research work are stored in GitHub: https://github.com/swarm-lab/ goatCollectiveDecision; https://github.com/sankeydan/voteABM and have been archived within the Zenodo repositories: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4265073 (goatCollectiveDecision); https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo. 4246325 (voteABM). Authors{\textquoteright} contributions. D.W.E.S., I.F. and A.J.K. formulated hypotheses. L.R.O{\textquoteright}B., A.J.K., P.H. and M.H. developed collars and hardware. G.C. and L.R.O{\textquoteright}B. were responsible for fieldwork; L.R.O{\textquoteright}B. performed data collection. D.W.E.S. processed the data; D.W.E.S. and S.G. analysed and visualized the data. D.W.E.S., L.R.O{\textquoteright}B., S.G., G.C., I.F. and A.J.K. wrote the manuscript. Competing interests. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. Acknowledgements. We thank the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement and the Tsaobis beneficiaries, the Snyman and Wittreich families, the Gobabeb Research and Training Centre, and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism for fieldwork permission and support. We are grateful to the James S. McDonnell Foundation (grant no. 220020422) and Natural Environment Research Council (NE/H016600/3 and NE/M015351/1) for funding, the Tsaobis Baboon Project 2015 team and Herman Strydom for help, Lucy Hawkes, Rory Wilson and Liz Greenyer for discussion, and Layla King for support. We thank Dr Oliver Sch{\"u}lke (Associate Editor), Kevin Padian (Subject Editor), and two anonymous reviewers for improving the manuscript. This paper is a publication of the ZSL Institute of Zoology{\textquoteright}s Tsaobis Baboon Project. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 The Authors.",
year = "2021",
month = feb,
doi = "10.1098/rsos.201128",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "8",
journal = "Royal Society Open Science",
issn = "2054-5703",
publisher = "The Royal Society",
number = "2",
}