Scotland’s largest deer species, the red deer, usually live in open-hill habitats year-round in groups of up to 40 individuals, according to the Mammal Society. Females specifically live separately from males and tend to monopolize the grass-rich habitats.
But according to a new University of Oxford study, aging wild red deer on the Isle of Rum in Scotland choose to live in isolated locations and become less sociable. Greg Albery of the University of Oxford, and a team of researchers found that this behavior change could help us understand social behavior in other species, including humans.
“We found that deer’s social networks shrink as they grow old and begin associating less with others. This ‘social aging’ appears to be driven by older individuals choosing to live in more isolated locations and engaging with fewer other deer within these sparser areas,” says Albery in a press release.
The study reveals the ...
