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Feral female buffalo build friendships based on similar personality traits, study reveals

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2024-12-27 16:30:05

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Similar social personalities strongly influence friendships in humans, yet we know relatively little about how animals choose their friends. But a new study by researchers at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) investigating a unique free-ranging feral population of water buffalo on Lantau Island in Hong Kong has discovered that close spatial proximity serves as an indicator of friendship based on the predictive patterns of certain personality traits.

"Our research provides evidence that friendships among water buffalo can form among individuals with similar behaviors. These findings offer valuable insights into the evolution of friendships," said Dr. Debottam Bhattacharjee, a Postdoc in CityUHK's Department of Infectious Diseases and Public Health.

"Personalities and social relationships will be potentially important for understanding how buffalo use their habitats during different seasons (wet and dry) of the year with fluctuating food resources," he added.