The amazing and affectionate social lives of animals,
The secret of desperate survival and coexistence

The rat selflessly helps a stranger in trouble.
Lions surprisingly adopt the cubs of their prey, and ants form communities to farm and build homes.
So why do we still believe that the wild, the animal world, is sustained by competition and the survival of the fittest? How can we define animal savagery and human sociality?

In "Animal Connection," biologist Ashley Ward travels the world in search of a more accurate picture of how animals create societies.
You'll visit a termite mating ritual, witness guides snacking on the termites, meet freelance goat herders, and swim with a special family of whales and dolphins.

The social life of animals, including the power of cooperation and the importance of sociality, herd behavior and information sharing, the evolution and development of social structures, decision-making and collective intelligence, conflict, war, and peace.
The author unfolds the story with affection, taking us on a journey that is both awe-inspiring and exhilarating, yet never loses sight of the scientific lens.
He emphasizes that social instincts, long believed to be uniquely human, may actually be the common thread that most powerfully connects humans and animals.
"Animal Connection" delivers a humorous and profound message: "The true principles that drive nature, including both humans and animals, are not the survival of the fittest or competition, but cooperation and evolution."

Because krill's bodies are largely transparent, you can even see their tiny hearts beating, and when they are separated from the group, their heartbeat increases.
They react similarly when they sense that a whale is nearby.
An elevated heart rate is a primary sign of stress.
Certainly, they prefer to be with colleagues rather than alone.
--- p.25, from “Brown Ale and Predation of Species”

Krill can shed their shells abruptly when confronted by fast-moving predators such as fish or penguins.
The predator bites the krill, seemingly on the verge of victory, only to find that its mouth is empty, leaving the intended victim behind, who has fled to safety.
Another unusual feature is that krill can light up the bioluminescent cells in their shells.
It is not yet clear whether this light is a means of communication between members of the same species, a flash to confuse predators, or a silhouette that blurs the darkness of the seafloor when attacked from below.
--- p.27, from “Brown Ale and Predation of Species”

A cockroach that is isolated at a young age is truly a tragic existence.
They grow slower than others and live on the periphery of society even after becoming adults.
They have difficulty socializing or interacting properly, find it difficult to join a cockroach colony, and are excluded from mating.
If they could write, these cockroaches would write poignant poems about existential loneliness and loss.
Perhaps a surprisingly beautiful and sad poem could have been born.
--- p.55, from “The Parenting War Between Bees and Ants”

The amount of honey that can be produced from a beehive is about 40 kilograms a year, which is surprising considering that a single bee produces only a fraction of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.
--- p.72, from “The Parenting War Between Bees and Ants”

Horribly, the queen Amazon ant brutally murders the queen Formica to get the scent.
It chemically disguises itself by licking the victim's body while biting, stabbing, and beating them until they die.
Some colonies of Formica ants have multiple queens, so the queen Amazon ant hunts down and mercilessly kills all the Formica queens.
Now the perception system of the Formica ants has compromised with reality and accepts the queen Amazon ant as their queen.
The newly crowned queen Amazon ant settles down and lays eggs, and the enslaved Formica ants carefully raise the offspring for the new queen.
--- p.119, from “The Parenting War Between Bees and Ants”

The guppy population is divided into two distinct living environments by natural barriers.
One side is a fish paradise, the other is a predator-infested hell.
Fortunately, guppies are highly adaptable and can cope well with these environments.
A combination of individual flexibility and natural selection results in distinct differences between these two populations.
The guppies that live above the waterfall are big, colorful, and stylish, and don't tend to swim in groups, while the guppies that live below the waterfall are drab and vagrant, and they swim in groups to avoid predators.

--- p.158~159, from “From the Ditch to the Decision”

The cries that bats make when they start to wake up from their long sleep attract the attention of the birds, who fly straight to the sound.
These bats, still asleep and unable to wake up from hibernation, are easy prey for birds.
The birds peck at the bat's thin skull and eat the succulent brain inside.
Like the magpies opening milk bottles (a petty crime that doesn't seem so heinous anymore), it's claimed that this behavior is passed down between birds and through generations.
--- p.199, from “Giant Swarm Flight”

If I have to choose between a familiar cow and an unfamiliar cow, I always choose the former.
So it is difficult for new animals to join a group where adults have established themselves firmly.
As cows get older, they become more attached to their old ways.
It is also a common trait in many animals, including humans.
The flexible approach of youth gradually gives way to an aversion to change.

--- p.290, from “Follow the Crowd”

The elephants, who appeared to be silent, were actually secretly whispering.
Infrasound is a great way to communicate remotely.
Deep sounds have long wavelengths and can travel over wide ranges, making them a fantastic way to communicate over long distances when family is scattered.
When conditions are right, elephants can sense each other from up to 10 kilometers apart, and exchange more detailed information when within 2 to 3 kilometers.

--- p.302, from “Follow the Crowd”

As dawn broke, the family of the headman, eerily silent and somber, gathered around the remains, caressing them and performing a ritual that seemed to be widespread among the elephants.
After several hours of silent reflection, they began covering the remains with branches, leaves, and dirt.
As the shadows lengthened and another night approached, they remained in the same place.
--- p.315, from “Follow the Crowd”

It's gloomy.
It may seem strange to us that an adult lioness would mate with the very same lion that killed her cubs, but that is the reality of lion society.
A lioness enters estrus shortly after losing her offspring and soon begins raising another generation of cubs.
--- p.333, from “Blood is thicker than water”

The most friendly of these wolves benefited from cooperating with humans.
And our human ancestors acquired capable guards and useful hunting companions.
Over time, the bond between the two species strengthened, and the wolves became increasingly distant from their wild cousins.
You might think that humans domesticated wolves, but it would be more accurate to say that they domesticated themselves.
--- p.379, from “Blood is thicker than water”

An interesting thing about the sperm whale clans is that each clan has its own dialect, which creates its own tail sounds.
Just as regional accents can develop within human language groups, the clan dialects of whales appear to be linked to geographic range.
When sperm whales encounter each other, they can identify not only who they are talking to, but also their family group and clan.
Being able to communicate is clearly important for the cohesion of animal societies, and may be particularly important for whales to locate each other when diving to the depths and then returning.
--- p.395~396, from “The Whale’s Tail Sound and Culture”

Female killer whales rarely give birth after age 40, but they can live for decades after that.
We don't question it because it's so familiar and natural to us, but biology isn't that emotional.
Why do these old orcas continue to live despite being unable to reproduce? The answer is that promoting the success of those who share their genes is a brilliant evolutionary strategy.

--- p.415, from “The Whale’s Tail Sound and Culture”

While identifying oneself when meeting others is certainly an important use of identification whistles, dolphins take it even further.
It is to imitate the identification whistle of other dolphins it has encountered.
Dolphins are not the only animals that can identify individuals by their vocalizations, but they are the only ones that call other individuals in the wild using specific tags that we call names.
--- p.421, from “The Whale’s Tail Sound and Culture”

Although humpback whales are widely distributed throughout the world's oceans, males in each ocean basin tend to sing nearly identical songs.
Their songs are not always the same.
It changes over time as males in a particular area adjust their songs to the songs they hear and the latest songs sung by other males.
Sometimes a song can be completely different.
--- p.428, from “The Whale’s Tail Sound and Culture”

When given a choice, their favorite mate is an older, heavier female who has previously had many offspring.
Although a bit surprising, this is also a valid choice.
Such females are better able to find food, are better mothers, and are more likely to rise in the dominance hierarchy.
--- p.494, from "War and Peace"

The chimpanzee looked at the other chimpanzee's entire face in the photo, while the bonobo kept its gaze on the photo's eyes.
When presented with another full-body photograph, the chimpanzees mostly looked at the buttocks, while the bonobos' attention was divided between the face and the buttocks.
In the third photo, where another ape was holding an object in its hand, the chimpanzee looked at the object the ape was holding, while the bonobo looked at both the face and the object.
Essentially, the bonobos' gaze patterns were similar to those seen in similar experiments in humans, and particularly to those seen in highly social individuals.

--- p.514, from “War and Peace”