Baboons Walk in Line for Friends, Not Safety todayheadline

Wild baboons organize their travel formations not to avoid predators or compete for food, but simply to stay close to their friends, according to new research that challenges decades of assumptions about animal behavior.

The study, which tracked 13 chacma baboons across South Africa’s Cape Peninsula using high-precision GPS collars, reveals that social bonds—not survival strategies—drive the consistent patterns scientists have long observed in baboon group movements.

Four Theories Put to the Test

For years, researchers have puzzled over why baboons form such orderly “progressions” when traveling through their territory. Some studies suggested the arrangements were random, while others proposed strategic positioning to protect vulnerable group members.

Using 78 travel progressions recorded over 36 days, the Swansea University team tested four competing explanations for baboon movement patterns. Could the animals be protecting the vulnerable, competing for resources, following leaders, or simply moving with their preferred companions?

“Surprisingly, the consistent order we see for the baboons we studied isn’t about avoiding danger like we see in prey animals when they position themselves in the middle of their social group, or for better access to food or water like we see in like we see in the movements of plains zebra,” said Dr Andrew King, Associate Professor at Swansea University. “Instead, it’s driven by who they’re socially bonded with. They simply move with their friends, and this produces a consistent order.”

The Social Network Effect

The research revealed a clear pattern: baboons with more social connections typically walked in the middle of traveling groups, while those with fewer close relationships found themselves at the front or rear. This wasn’t a conscious safety strategy—it emerged naturally from their existing friendships.

Think of it like a group of friends walking down a street. The most popular person might end up in the center simply because more people want to walk beside them, not because anyone planned it that way.

“We know that strong social bonds are important for baboons – they’re linked to longer lives and greater reproductive success,” explained Marco Fele, the study’s lead author and PhD student at Swansea University. “But in this context, those bonds aren’t serving a specific purpose. The travel order we see is simply a by-product of those relationships, not a strategy with immediate benefits.”

A New Concept: Social Spandrels

The findings introduce a fascinating concept called a “social spandrel” to animal behavior research. Just as architectural spandrels are the triangular spaces that emerge when arches are placed side by side—useful but not the original purpose—social spandrels are behavioral patterns that arise as side effects of other evolutionary traits.

In this case, the consistent travel formations emerge from baboons’ natural tendency to stay near their social partners, not from any evolutionary pressure to maintain specific marching orders.

What makes this discovery particularly intriguing is how it contradicts traditional assumptions about animal group behavior. Rather than every pattern serving a direct survival function, some might simply be inevitable consequences of social life.

Beyond Survival of the Smartest

The study systematically ruled out the most common explanations for baboon formation patterns:

Protection hypothesis: Male baboons weren’t positioning themselves at the supposedly riskier front and rear positions to shield others from danger.

Competition hypothesis: Lower-ranking baboons weren’t rushing to the front to claim first access to food resources.

Leadership hypothesis: Dominant individuals, including the alpha male, typically stayed near the center rather than leading from the front.

“In the baboon group we studied, the more socially connected, higher-ranking individuals usually walk in the middle of the group, while lower-ranking baboons are often out in front or at the rear,” King noted. “During these group movements—like heading to a familiar sleeping spot—it’s likely that the group already knows where they’re going. So, the baboons at the front aren’t really leading; they’re just out ahead.”

Technology Reveals Hidden Patterns

The breakthrough came from using GPS tracking collars that recorded baboon positions every second for over a month. This level of detail revealed something previous observational studies had missed: the remarkable consistency in who walked where during group movements.

The researchers identified progressions by looking for periods when the group moved quickly in highly coordinated formations, with individuals stretched into lines rather than scattered clusters. These journeys averaged about 10 minutes but could last over an hour.

Most progressions occurred in late afternoon as baboons traveled to their sleeping sites, suggesting these weren’t exploratory missions but routine commutes where everyone knew the destination.

Friendship Networks in Motion

Perhaps most remarkably, the study found that distances between baboons during group travel directly reflected their social relationships during rest periods. Close friends stayed close while moving, creating the appearance of strategic positioning when it was actually social preference in action.

The research also revealed that dominant baboons changed their front-to-rear position less frequently than subordinates, but the identity of their immediate neighbors shifted more often—consistent with having more social connections to choose from.

Implications for Animal Behavior

This research challenges scientists to reconsider how they interpret animal group behaviors. Not every organized pattern necessarily serves an adaptive function—some might be beautiful byproducts of social evolution.

“Our study highlights the potential for these kinds of spandrels in collective animal behaviour,” Fele emphasized. The concept could apply far beyond baboons to other species where social bonds influence group movements.

The findings also demonstrate how modern technology can reveal hidden truths about behaviors that seemed well understood. Sometimes the most obvious explanations—like formation flying for safety—might miss more subtle but equally important forces shaping animal societies.

As researchers continue studying collective animal behavior, this baboon research serves as a reminder that the social lives of animals can be just as complex and influential as their survival needs.