Friendly hyenas are more likely to form mobs

Strong social relationships make hyenas more likely to team up against lions, even when there’s no obvious benefit

Social bonds between hyenas make the animals more likely to form mobs and attack
Social bonds between hyenas make the animals more likely to form mobs and attack lions. © Brittany Gunther, available under a CC BY 4.0 DEED license

After more than 35 years of surveillance, researchers from Michigan State University and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior are exposing some of the secret workings of mobs. The team revealed that relationships and social interactions between hyenas can influence when two or more animals decide to work together to attack lions. This type of cooperative behavior is called mobbing.

"Social relationships can overcome barriers to mobbing and let hyenas achieve cooperation," said Max Planck researcher Tracy Montgomery, a lead author of the new report. ...

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