It seems that finding a sincere friendship in this world is really difficult.
In the animal world, there are friendship stories that surprise us. A dog plays with a cat, a monkey befriends a giraffe, or even strange relationships between humans and dolphins.
Like in humans, we often expect friendship to be sincere, selfless and open. But the truth is that with some animals, for example in Japanese macaques, previous studies have shown that their friendships are full of calculation.
Japanese macaques maintain a hierarchical society and monkeys usually only befriend other monkeys who are considered to be of the same rank as themselves. Meanwhile, some try to befriend monkeys of higher rank in the group to gain priority, share more food, protect from conflict and avoid punishment when they make mistakes.
It is embarrassing to look at ourselves in the mirror, we humans also more or less notice a similar trend. It seems that finding a sincere friendship in this world is really difficult.
But a research team at the City University of Hong Kong recently said that they have found a friendship that is sincere, unpretentious, and carefree in the animal world. That is the friendship between water buffaloes.
That’s right, water buffaloes, animals often associated with the image of hard-working plowing the fields, toiling under the hot sun. Who would have thought that under that “dusty” appearance is a heart full of emotions. When making friends, they do not care about the social status of other buffaloes, do not make friends just to flatter, rely on the strength or power of the larger ones in the herd.
Water buffaloes will play with each other, only when their personalities and interests are compatible, regardless of age or bloodline. This conclusion was drawn after researchers used cameras to monitor the behavior of a herd of semi-wild water buffalo living in Hong Kong.
There is a paradise for water buffalo in Hong Kong
When mentioning Hong Kong, most people only imagine Kowloon Walled City, or the image of a megacity, with a terrible population density that makes the land fund thoroughly utilized.
Rarely anyone knows that inside this city, there is still a national park, with vast green grasslands, wetlands, and muddy swamps that have become a paradise for water buffalo.
That is Lantau, a separate island located in the west of Hong Kong. Although this island is still home to more than 100,000 people, overloaded with its population density. But Hong Kong people still set aside half of the land fund to maintain a national park, where scientists have tried to reintroduce a herd of wild water buffalo to study their behavior.
Water buffalo on Lantau Island not only live freely, not forced to work like in some other places, but are also protected and respected by the local community. They live a leisurely life, freely roaming, foraging, and enjoying a slow pace of life in harmony with nature.
In terms of numbers, the water buffalo population on Lantau Island is currently estimated at around 120–150 (according to recent reports from Hong Kong). In terms of scale, the water buffalo population on Lantau is not among the top in terms of numbers.
Areas such as India, Nepal, and Thailand have much larger water buffalo populations, with thousands of animals. However, in terms of quality of life and almost “paradise” living environment, Lantau Island stands out and is unique, becoming a bright spot in the conservation of water buffalo in the natural environment.
This is one of the few places where water buffalo live wild without pressure from humans. This has allowed scientists to study the animals in depth, helping them to understand behaviors that they never display in captivity and domestication.
Such as their ability to form friendships
Like many other herd animals, water buffalo have social relationships, including siblings, relatives, and friends. And in a new study, three scientists from the City University of Hong Kong wanted to find out how water buffalo tend to form and maintain friendships.
“Personality similarity or similarity promotes strong social bonds known as friendships in humans and some non-human primates. However, we currently know very little about the ‘decision principles’ that underlie friendships in other animals.
So in this study, we observed a population of wild and free-ranging water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) to determine whether personality similarity promotes friendships between females in this social ungulate,” the scientists said.
To do this, they placed cameras on a herd of more than 30 female water buffalo living on Lantau Island. These buffalo were classified by age, relatives and especially personality, based on monitoring their social behavior.
Scientists discovered seven main personality groups in the buffalo herd, including the friendly buffaloes who like to groom themselves. Others are wary and tend to avoid each other, some are lazy and just sit in one place while others are very active and playful. In contrast to some gentle buffaloes, some will show dominance.
Based on the pedigree, age and personality of these buffaloes, scientists monitored their interactions with each other. They noticed a common trend, in which buffaloes with similar personalities often approach and play together more. They often go to eat together, stay close to each other and invite each other to play, roll around in the mud.
“Our study provides evidence that water buffalo friendships can form between individuals with similar behaviours. These findings provide valuable insights into the evolution of friendship,” said Dr Debottam Bhattacharjee, one of the study’s co-authors from the City University of Hong Kong.
Why do animals value friendships?
In social species, including humans, “bonds” in a social network, such as kinship, kinship and friendship, have been shown to be positively correlated with health, well-being and even survival advantages for the organism.
Recent studies have shown that friendships not only occur in humans, but also in animals, tend to be stable and long-lasting, forming beyond the scope of kinship relationships. Individuals within an animal species tend to form friendships if the benefits of friendship outweigh the costs of maintaining the friendship.
For example, friendship promotes cooperation, which helps protect each other from danger. For example, dolphins and lions often cooperate in close groups to ensure safety. When they have trusted friends, the risk of being left behind or attacked is greatly reduced.
Friendship helps animals share information and resources. For example, in some species such as wolves or African wild dogs, friendship leads to a high level of coordination in hunting and defending territory.
Individuals who cooperate well often have a big advantage in survival compared to solitary individuals. Meanwhile, chimpanzees often cooperate and share food with close friends. This not only ensures a stable source of nutrition but also saves energy when searching for food.
Next, friendships also help animals increase their chances of reproduction, even if they are same-sex friendships. For example, some animals often seek out mates in groups. Sparrows often form “allies” of the same sex to support each other in attracting mates. Having many friends increases their chances of attracting a large group of mates.
And finally, friendships, like ours, also help animals confide in each other, reduce stress, and improve their health. Studies have shown that friendships in animals, both of the same and different species, increase the hormone oxytocin, which leads to happiness and increases overall longevity.
So it is not surprising that water buffalo also make friends with each other, graze together, and go mud bathing together. The new findings from this study are completely consistent with previous discoveries, showing that water buffalo are highly social animals.
