群居动物是比较聪明，科学家通过研究已经发现了，由于群居动物的社交性的缘故，

在群居动物中间会有明确的社会分工产生，比如蚂蚁。而动物进化的首要条件就是
社会分工。想必这一点学过哲学基础的人都能够明白。灵长类动物就是群居的。这
样的例子可以举出很多。在哺乳动物中间，群居拥有很大的优势，所以，很多动物
都采用群居的方式生活。在食物链上方的动物，大都有群居性。独居动物不是说就
不聪明了，但是要说明的是，我们要同类横向比较才能够进行比较。比如，老虎和
狼比较，狼就聪明多了。蚂蚁和其他虫类比较，蚂蚁就聪明多。

群居动物，例如狗、猴子、大猩猩、蜜蜂、狮子、蚂蚁。在它们群族中可能由一个
到多个家庭组成。每个家庭成员各自有比较明显的地位。 为保障其种族的势力范
围，社会化动物的群族中通常有首领。在繁殖期中，常常有新一代挑战旧首领并发
生激烈打斗。 为了保障觅食优势，社会化动物的群族会霸占一个地方/地盘。 独居
动物相应的没有太强的领地意识，他们只是生活方式不同，共同生活在地球上。

A social animal is a loosely defined term for an organism that is highly interactive with
other members of its species to the point of having a recognizable and distinct society.

Gorillas and other higher primates are noted as having similarly complex social
structures.
All mammals (and birds) are social to the extent that mothers and offspring bond. The
term "social animal" is usually only applied when there is a level of social organization
that goes beyond this, with permanent groups of adults living together, and relationships
between individuals that endure from one encounter to another.
Animal social behavior and organization is studied in comparative psychology, ethology,
sociobiology, behavioral ecology and computer science (artificial intelligence). Typical
issues in social behavior are:

What is the typical size of the group? What factors limit group size? What factors lead to
groups merging or splitting?
Does the species show territoriality? If so, to what extent? If territories are maintained,
what is their purpose? Are they held by an individual or a group?
Are there permanent social dominance relationships within the group? Is there any
pattern within them?

A few species, notably insects of the orders Hymenoptera (ants, bees and wasps) and
Isoptera (termites) show an extreme form of sociality, involving highly organized
societies, with individual organisms specialized for distinct roles. This form of social
behavior is referred to as eusociality. Some vertebrates, most notably the Naked Mole
Rat, are also eusocial.

Some invertebrates whose social behavior is of particular interest:

Ants
Bees
Termites
Thrips
Wasps
Snapping Shrimp (Alpheidae)
Spiders
For a review of sociality in across the Arthropods, see The Insect Societies by Edward O.
Wilson, The Evolution of Social Behavior in Insects and Arachnids edited by Jae Choe
and Bernard J. Crespi, and The Other Insect Societies by James T. Costa.

Features of Vertebrate Societies

Animal societies may exhibit one of more of these behaviors:

cooperative rearing of young by the group
overlapping generations living in a permanent, as opposed to seasonal, group
cooperative foraging or hunting
social learning (such as a young chimpanzee learning by observation to use a twig to fish
for termites)
A chief debate among ethologists studying animal societies is whether non-human
primates and other animals can be said to have culture.

Some vertebrates whose social behavior is of particular interest:

Bats (Chiroptera)
Bonobos (Pan paniscus)
Canids
Cats
Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
Dolphins (Delphinidae)
Elephants (Loxodonta africana) (Elephas minimas) (Loxodonta cyclotis)
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
Humans (Homo sapiens)
Gorillas (Gorilla gorilla)
Horses
Hyenas
Killer Whale (Orcinus Orca)
Lions (Panthera leo)
Meerkats (Suricata suricatta)
Orange-Fronted Conures (Aratinga canicularis)
Penguins
Wolves (Canis lupus)
Human social behavior frequently includes non-human creatures (most notably dogs,
cats, and horses).

2000 Conference on Animal Sociality

In August 2000, a conference on Animal Social Complexity and Intelligence was held at
the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The three-day
conference, convened to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Jane Goodall's work in
Tanzania on Chimpanzees, gathered together international researchers working on
sociality in a wide variety of vertebrates, including humans, primates, other mammals,
and birds. The conference proceedings were published as a book in 2003: [Animal Social
Complexity: Intelligence, Culture, and Individualized Societies edited by Frans de Waal
and Peter L. Tyack.