Sociality

Sociality is how much animals like to stay together in groups and work as a team. Many animals, from tiny insects to large mammals, show social behavior because it helps them survive. For example, a mother wasp that stays close to her babies keeps them safer from parasites. This kind of caring for young is a big part of what makes animals social.

Animals that work together often have better problem-solving skills. Social hunters like spotted hyenas and lions can solve tricky problems more easily than solitary animals like leopards and tigers. Being social helps animals protect their young, share tasks, and live better in groups. The most social animals, called eusocial, even have special roles within their groups to help everyone survive.

Presociality

Some animals, like jaguars, usually stay alone except when they are looking for a partner. But some animals show a bit more togetherness without being very social. These animals are called presocial. Even though there are many presocial animals, the ones that are very social (called eusocial) have bigger groups.

Scientists have special words to describe different levels of togetherness in animals. One important type is subsocial, where parents take care of their babies for a little while. This happens a lot in insects with wings. Another type is solitary but social, where animals live alone but sometimes share a place to rest. For example, some dolphins live apart but visit humans.

Eusociality

Main articles: Eusociality and Evolution of eusociality

Eusocial societies are groups where adults from different generations work together, help take care of the young, and have specific roles for reproduction. Some animals are born with fixed roles they keep their whole lives, showing the highest level of social behavior. This way of living has developed in many insects, like ants, bees, sawflies, and wasps, as well as in termites. A few beetles, bugs, and thrips are also known to live this way. When animals work together without fixed roles, they are called primitively eusocial.

Two examples of primitively eusocial mammals are the naked mole-rat and the Damaraland mole-rat. These animals help raise their siblings and live in tough environments. They usually have one queen who has all the babies, and the others help take care of them.

Some crustaceans also live in eusocial groups. For example, Synalpheus regalis are snapping shrimp that live in tropical reefs and sponges. They stay in one place and work together to protect it, with one female having the babies and many males defending the group.

There is some debate about whether an animal needs to have fixed, unchanging roles to be truly eusocial. Under this stricter idea, some animals like the mole-rats and even humans might not fit the definition.

Human eusociality

E. O. Wilson and Bert Hölldobler suggested in 2005 that humans might show enough teamwork to be considered a eusocial species.