Social Dynamics in Zoo-Housed Bush Dogs (Speothos venaticus) Following Group Changes

Bush dogs (Speothos venaticus) are cooperatively breeding South American canids with relatively unstudied behavior. Here, we study a group of zoo-housed bush dogs to investigate the impact of pack structure changes on their collective movements, social hierarchy and social network structure. Data were collected on dominance interactions and group movements within the pack over 10 months, split into three phases: (1) during the pregnancy of the breeding female, (2) post-pup birth, and (3) post-removal of an adult female. Our results indicate that in this pack, bush dogs formed a single social hierarchy with the breeding male as the highest-ranking member, contrasting with a previous study finding separate male and female hierarchies. However, this difference may be due to the physical limitations of the breeding female in our study, caused by pregnancy and old age. Submission behaviors contributed more to social rank than dominance behaviors. Following the pup birth, the linearity and steepness of the social hierarchy and the frequency of submission behaviors in the group increased, while the female that was least related to the breeding female became the lowest ranking group member. The subsequent removal of this low-ranking female had minimal impact on social structure. Higher-ranking individuals initiated more single-file lines, likely facilitating cooperative hunting and group travel. This study contributes valuable insights into the social structure and dynamics of a zoo-housed bush dog group and provides a basis for the use of David's score and social network analysis to monitor bush dog social groups to inform ex-situ management.