Animals owe their social sense to their maternal side!

(Image for representational purposes only)

New Delhi: Social networking, for us humans, has become an alternative life. A world within a world where we love to spend our time connecting, reaching out, meeting new people and making memories with them, while reminiscing about the old ones with old friends.

But, we aren't the only ones who like social networking. Animals do it too, of course. However, the question here is, where do they get their social networking instincts from?

A new study has found that out for you. As per the study, animals acquire their social sense from their maternal side!

Yes! Animals' social sense is the result of motherly nurturing, with the process starting with a newborn's connection with its mother and then moving on to connecting with the other members of the same species, which depends upon its interactions with the mother.

Four different animal populations were studied in the course of the research: spotted hyenas, sleep lizards, rock hyrax and bottlenose dolphins.

As per I4U News, the simple animal models could show us a thing or two about how networks operate in reality. The web of relationships they spawn can be noted down and the level of connectivity may also be observed.

The clustering coefficient could also be seen in these populations. This measures the level of cliquishness in the group. Social groups in animals have always been under the gaze of biologists.

However, the complexities of these social cliques have only emerged in the past decade or so. A cornucopia of data has come to light regarding this phenomenon.

The main point here is that an animal’s attachment to its mother and later on others who were (or were not) linked with its mother remained the gist of the matter, which led to the successful discovery of this fact.