{"id":16618,"date":"2023-05-25T21:19:38","date_gmt":"2023-05-25T21:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/?p=16618"},"modified":"2025-01-10T15:58:03","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T15:58:03","slug":"animal-teamwork","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/2023\/05\/25\/animal-teamwork\/","title":{"rendered":"Animal Teamwork"},"content":{"rendered":"

Teamwork makes the dream work! That is the famous saying, and it is not only a view held by humans. Animals collaborate to achieve common goals too! Read on to discover some of the best team players in the animal kingdom!<\/h2>\n

10: Cheetahs<\/h3>\n

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All cheetahs are team players at some point in their lives. When mother cheetahs first leave their cubs to fend for themselves at 16 months of age, the siblings will stick together for a little bit. Cheetah litters can be as large as eight individuals, but, on average, four make it to adulthood. These little groups are made up of both males and females, and the females take on the majority of the hunting whilst the males are there for added protection from predators. The females, who seem to get the short end of the stick, leave the group at 18 months of age to go and find their own territories and live a solitary life. The males, meanwhile, will stick together, sometimes forming lifelong coalitions which allow them to take down larger prey and to hold larger territories with more females.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, unrelated males form coalitions too, the largest group of these being the Tano Bora coalition of five individuals in the Masai Mara. Whilst they may be able to take down larger prey, cheetahs that hunt in coalitions actually eat the same amount of food per week as cheetahs that hunt alone. This suggests that the benefit to teamwork may not lie in the food they eat, but the territory that they are able to maintain. Through teamwork, these cheetahs are able to hold onto larger patches of land, increasing their likelihood of reproductive success!<\/p>\n