Sociability
| Solitary Living alone, not gregarious (Thompson, 1995). |
Non-territorial | |
| Territorial | Solitary but with a defined territory. | |
| Gregarious | Living in groups or communities, growing in clusters (Thompson, 1995); where the organsims actively seek out members of the same species as adult or larvae/juveniles for protection from the environment, predators or for breeding. | |
|---|---|---|
| Colonial (e.g. sea birds) | Living in large colonies of individuals - in the same area from season to season - usually for breeding purposes. | |
| Social group Cooperative groups of the same species - e.g. social insects, mammals |
Small (tribe/pride/pack/pod) | Small group of individuals that work together for mutual benefit, often held together by familial (matriachal/patriarchal) bonds (e.g pack or wolves, pod of dolphin, pride or lions, tribe or humans). |
| Large (insect colonies) | Large colonies of indivduals cooperating for mutual benefit, made up of thousnads or more individuals, often with a dominant matriach, e.g. social incests , bees etc. | |
References:
- Barnes, R.S.K., Calow, P. and Olive P.J.W., 1993. The invertebrates: a new synthesis. Oxford: Blackwell Science Ltd.
- Thompson, D., (ed.) 1995. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English. 9th ed. London: Oxford University Press.
