Birds Have Fewer Friends As They Age, and They May Not Care
By mapping the ages and social networks of all the birds, they found that older sparrows do tend to have fewer friends, as with humans. The reason could be that there is no ‘evolutionary pressure’ to do so: while friendliness helps younger birds survive and breed more successfully, the same isn’t true for older birds.
This evolutionary mechanism may also be at work in humans – it could be that older people are less inclined to new friends as they age. Combined with fewer same-age potential friends available, this could be a factor in the loneliness crisis among older people.
Friendliness, at least for sparrows, may change with age. When they’re young, it helps them to make friends, giving them an evolutionary ‘benefit’. But once they’ve reproduced, it seems like being unfriendly has no evolutionary ‘cost’ – there are no downsides that mean those genes wouldn’t be passed on.
🧠🆔 @neurocognitionandlearning
By mapping the ages and social networks of all the birds, they found that older sparrows do tend to have fewer friends, as with humans. The reason could be that there is no ‘evolutionary pressure’ to do so: while friendliness helps younger birds survive and breed more successfully, the same isn’t true for older birds.
This evolutionary mechanism may also be at work in humans – it could be that older people are less inclined to new friends as they age. Combined with fewer same-age potential friends available, this could be a factor in the loneliness crisis among older people.
Friendliness, at least for sparrows, may change with age. When they’re young, it helps them to make friends, giving them an evolutionary ‘benefit’. But once they’ve reproduced, it seems like being unfriendly has no evolutionary ‘cost’ – there are no downsides that mean those genes wouldn’t be passed on.
🧠🆔 @neurocognitionandlearning