As people age, they tend to have fewer friends. Similarly, according to a new study, sparrows also experience a decline in friendships as they enter old age and become more selective in choosing companions.
According to the science news website Earth.com, a research team led by Dr. Julia Schroeder from Imperial College London published their findings on an isolated sparrow population on Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B on Monday.
The sparrows on Lundy Island form an isolated population, with no birds leaving or new individuals entering. Over 25 years, the research team observed the sparrows’ age, breeding success rate, and social networks.
The study found that older sparrows tend to have fewer friends. The research team speculated that this may be because no evolutionary pressure related to breeding exists. Younger birds benefit from close social ties, as these relationships help them survive longer and breed more successfully, whereas older birds do not experience the same benefits.
Dr. Schroeder explained that friendliness is an evolutionary advantage for young individuals because it helps them form friendships. However, there appears to be no evolutionary cost for a decrease in friendliness after reproductive age. She suggested that this evolutionary mechanism might also apply to humans, potentially reducing the tendency to form new friendships as people age. Schroeder added that studies on age-related changes in friendliness could help older adults understand ways to make new connections and combat loneliness.
Co-author Dr. Jamie Dunning highlighted the significance of the research, noting that this study is one of the first to suggest that, like mammals, birds also experience a decline in social network size as they age.
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