REVIEW: Chris Packham's Animal Einsteins, Series 1 Episode Four 'Social Networkers'

 REVIEW: Chris Packham's Animal Einsteins, Series 1 Episode Four 'Social Networkers'

'Social Networking' is an interesting episode title for a nature show. It's a term we usually tend to associate with the likes of Facebook and Twitter, where we converse with friends, family or sometimes complete strangers over the world wide web. At first, it seems odd for this to be used to refer to animals. And yet, whilst animals cannot access the internet, within the context of the episode it makes so much sense.

This instalment of this excellent new nature series sets out to tell us one thing, and that's that animals have an excellent social life. We're given a good example of this early on, where a pack of lions team up to take down a buffalo, and it becomes clear that teamwork is very much important in the animal kingdom.

Just look at the lions and the puzzle box, for instance. This box features a piece of meat inside, but in order to claim the meat they must work out how to find their way into the box. First, a solitary lion is given the task. They work it out first, and so another lion is brought in, who learns the method by watching her mate complete the challenge in front of her. This is a really intelligent thing to witness, as it demonstrates just how much the social interactions allow lions to learn and adapt in the wild. They are so much more than the brute force they are often thought of as.

What I was even more astounded to learn, however, is that we are not the only species to socially distance ourselves when confronted with a virus or disease. Ants do it too, and even go to the same extents of us, of quarantining away from their 'hive' and spending more time outside, where it is less likely to spread. It kind of makes me wonder if ants have more brain power than us, as there are humans out there who question these tactics, whereas the ants just get on with it.

They even share our ideas of democracy. This is demonstrated when the scientists at the ant lab destroy their nest, and present them with alternatives. The ants all vote for which alternative will become their new home, and then construct their new hive. I had never thought of an ant democracy before, but it's fascinating to learn that they base their decisions this way.

They aren't the only other animals to have this sense of diplomacy however. Apes also are said to share these ideals here, and seem to take it further than the ants. These apes get into the more political spectrum, and even bribe their voters with food and pleasantries in order to grab the power they crave. I know we are close to apes in terms of evolution, but I did not realise that we were so close to them that our politicians even resemble literal apes. It explains a lot on some of their decisions in the Houses of Parliament.

As anyone would agree, trust is important in any sort of relationship, but the way white-faced capuchen monkeys decide who they can rely on is strange, to say the least. Here, it is described to us how they poke each others eyes to demonstrate their trustworthiness, and if they don't poke it right out, to the other capuchen monkey it suggests they can indeed be relied upon. It's certainly an 'interesting' method, although I'm not sure it would go down well with a fellow human!

Even more surprising was just how social vampire bats are. They even congregate with strangers in order to share food supply, and their confirmation of trust takes the form of offering each other grooming sessions. I never thought for one minute vampire bats would operate so closely with each other, as you tend to think of them as antisocial because of how bats are known to come out at night, so it was a cool fact for sure.

Like many a dog owner, I had often suspected that my dogs think of me as their owner, rather than the other way round, so it was interesting to see this confirmed too. We learn, you see, that rather than us domesticating the wolves that evolved into dogs, they domesticated themselves. The wolves chose us as their most likely source of food, and therefore we effectively became *their* vets, rather than the opposite. I'm sure my dogs were very pleased to see the truth come out at last, and I bow down to our canine overlords.

Overall, this was another strong showing for Chris Packham's Animal Einsteins. The episode gave us some insightful nuggets of information, and a greater understanding of the way nature operates. It's fascinating to learn just how social these animals really are. We aren't the only social networkers after all...

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What are your thoughts on Animal Einsteins' fourth episode? Let me know in the comments.