In a herd, not all neighbors count in the same way

From a distance, a herd may seem to form an interchangeable crowd. By regularly observing who is standing next to whom, we discover preferences. The proximity of some pairs repeats itself more than would be expected from a purely random distribution.

A thesis from the University of Northampton studies these social ties in groups of dairy cows. In particular, it examines associations between individuals and physiological reactions in situations of separation. The presence of a preferred partner may be accompanied by a lower heart rate in the conditions tested.

Talking about “best friends” is an accessible image, but does not directly describe a human relationship with its confidences and promises. The observable observation is already important: changing the neighbors of an animal can change its social environment, even if the meadow, the food and the size of the group seem identical to our eyes.