“Nants ingonyama bagithi baba”

As the sun rises off the horizon in the African savannah, the anthropomorphized animals in the iconic movie, The Lion King, head towards Pride Rock, home of the lions.

“Sithi uhm ingonyama”

Rafiki, the wise baboon, raises the newborn Simba to the sky in a ritual announcing his arrival to the savannah. 

“Nants ingonyama bagithi baba”

All other animals gather around the rocky outcrop in acknowledgment of such a world-shifting event. 

“Sithi uhm ingonyama”

This incredible and systematic gathering of a wide variety of animals is certainly unnatural. But even though this is a fictional movie, it brings up the question of animal decision-making. Each of those animals chose to attend that ceremony at Pride Rock, and in the real natural world, similar decisions must be made constantly. 

What I will attempt to do here is discuss systems of decision-making in animals. From risk-assessment in alpine ibex to herd mentality in fish to altruism in monkeys, I will briefly touch on each part of their decision making. 

The science of decision-making is incredibly complex, densely complicated, and quite all-encompassing, making it a challenge to provide fundamental truths. Understanding that we are about to embark on an arduous journey I can only provide a single piece of advice…Enjoy!

So let’s start at the beginning: What is decision-making? 

The American Psychological Association defines decision-making as the cognitive process of choosing between two or more alternatives [2]. Decisions are made in massive numbers each day, with The Decision Lab estimating that we make around 35,000 choices every day [3]. These choices can range from simple “should I run from this big predator “ to more complex “who should I mate with?” Subsequently, it is challenging to create a single framework of animal decision-making. Such a range implies that constructing a singular framework of animal decision-making is exceptionally challenging. 

So let’s discuss a few emergent animal behaviors, beginning with…

Risk Assessment:

In a remarkable video demonstrating the prowess of nature, Alpine ibex in Italy climbed a virtually vertical dam to sip at the minerals leaking through the stone (see Figure 1) [4, 5]. This incredible behavior is inherently intertwined with significant risk, but, despite this, the ibex engage in such behavior regularly. This steep tolerance for risk suggests two key ideas: 

1. Risk is not assessed the same throughout the animal kingdom. Some behavior is riskier for certain animals than it is for others.
2. The benefits of engaging in risky behavior must outweigh its costs

These two key ideas suggest the comparison between a variety of factors for animals to make a decision, making such analysis that much more complicated. Different species have different underlying behavioral frameworks that define aversion to risk. 

Interestingly, other primates, like rhesus monkeys, have been noted to typically present less risk aversion compared to humans [6]. In experiments, these primates often exhibit behaviors characteristic of ambiguity aversion [7]. This implies that such species are more comfortable knowing the probabilities of a particular event, even when the other event may exhibit higher probabilities of success. 

All this is to say that species like the Alpine ibex are following certain ingrained behaviors that might make them estimate certain risks in a different light. Such subjectivity raises the challenge of completely understanding risk assessment in the minds of other animals. Regardless, this  shines a light inside the mind of these organisms, providing a more vivid picture of how they interact and engage with the world. 

Herd Mentality:

Herd mentality emerges from the self-interested decisions of individual members within a population. 

This means that a school of fish is solely organized and mechanized through its constituent parts. Subsequently, this means that decisions within schools of fish are dictated by local and independent choices. 

Research suggests that the movement of individual fish is based on their near-neighbor distance (NND) [8], and when they are too close, too far, or too dense, they can alter their physical action to remedy that issue. These choices emerge as herd mentality and create unique phenomena. When a predator dives at a school of fish, the herd’s constituent parts each do their part to avoid the predator, creating what appears to be an organized opening within the herd (see Figure 2). 

This type of decision-making that emerges from organized group-think is seen throughout the animal kingdom. Simple choices made by each individual within the group dictates the larger whole, creating some of the most unique and odd behaviors in the world. 

Altruism:

Many scientists believe that humanity’s capability to be altruistic enabled the immense collaboration that has given rise to civilization. But, altruism is a complex choice because it requires the foresight of future collaboration. 

Interestingly, quite a few species have documented instances involving altruism, but it was not until recently in which some of our closest relatives have exhibited true altruism [9]. True altruism is a type of altruism in which some members of a group help those that they do not know or are not related to.

There are a variety of theories that have been proposed to explain the mechanism behind altruism in chimps and humans.  One is group augmentation, where male chimpanzees receive benefits (like increased attractiveness to females, improving each individual chance of reproduction) for engaging in altruistic activities. The study suggested that chimpanzees have an understanding of a possible future reward, signifying that they can make decisions based on a variety of factors, both real and imagined. Again, while the mechanisms of such decision-making have yet to be uncovered, it is certainly clear that these chimpanzees integrate a variety of data to ultimately make their choice.

Regardless, the future of the field of animal decision-making has a long way to entirely capture the fullness of the brain. By turning towards the animal kingdom, we can gain further insight into the interaction of neurons, as well as critically examine our own history of decision-making. With the development of new technologies that are able to integrate vast amounts of information about the brain, we can only expect to gain further insight into decision-making mechanisms. Once we do so,  then, and only then, can we discern how true a movie like The Lion King is. 

References

1. Twillie, C., M. Lebo (1994). Circle of Life [Song]. On The Lion King [Album]. Walt Disney Hollywood Mercury.
2. American Psychological Association. Definition of Decision-Making. https://dictionary.apa.org/decision-making.
3. Bell-Garrison, D. (2021, October 8). Exploring Parallels between Human and Animal Decision-Making. The Decision Lab. https://thedecisionlab.com/insights/society/parallels-between-human-animal-decision-making/.
4. Cox, B. [BBC]. (2016, July 12). The incredible ibex defies gravity and climbs a dam | Forces of Nature with Brian Cox [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6M_XgiONoo
5. National Geographic. (2010, November 10). “Mind-Boggling” Pictures: Goats Scale Dam in Italy. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/101101-ibex-goats-dam-italy-bighorn-sheep-wyoming-science.
6. Farashahi, S., Azab, H., Hayden, B., Soltani, A. (2018, May 2). On the Flexibility of Basic Risk Attitudes in Monkeys. The Journal of Neuroscience. https://www.jneurosci.org/content/38/18/4383
7. Heilbronner S. R. (2017). Modeling risky decision-making in nonhuman animals: shared core features. Current opinion in behavioral sciences, 16, 23–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.03.001
8. Tien, J. H., Levin, S. A., & Rubenstein, D. I. (2004). Dynamics of fish shoals: Identifying key decision rules. Evolutionary Ecology Research, 6(4), 555-565.
9. Price, M. (2017, June 19). True altruism seen in chimpanzees, giving clues to evolution of human cooperation. Science. https://www.science.org/content/article/true-altruism-seen-chimpanzees-giving-clues-evolution-human-cooperation