Animals share hidden behavior patterns across continents

In nature, animal life seems wonderfully chaotic. Predators hunt. Prey flee. Herds eat and sleep together. It all feels spontaneous -each creature responding to its needs in the moment.

But new research suggests there may be a hidden order to all this movement. And it’s not just found in one place or species. It appears across continents, in animals living very different lives.

Animal movement across the globe

The study involved animals from three dramatically different environments. In the dry heat of the Kalahari Desert, meerkats dig through the sand. In Panama’s rainforests, coatis nap high in the trees. On the Kenyan savannah, spotted hyenas roam the grasslands.

These species differ in body size, diet, and behavior. But researchers found something they all had in common – how they moved from one activity to the next.

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior tracked these wild animals using accelerometers, the same sensors found in smartphones and fitness watches.

Unexpected pattern in animal behavior

The devices recorded tiny shifts in body movement, many times per second, and for days at a time.

“This approach allowed us to capture detailed behavioral sequences over days and even weeks from multiple individuals across three distinct species,” said Ariana Strandburg-Peshkin, group leader at the institute and senior author on the study.

Using machine learning, the data were sorted into different behavioral categories: lying, walking, foraging, and more.

A meerkat might lie still for a while, scan the area, then dig for food. A coati might spend time climbing, resting, or eating. These changing states, tracked over time, revealed an unexpected pattern.

Animal behavior that sticks

Across all three species, one rule seemed to apply: the longer an animal stays in one behavior, the less likely it is to change.

“We assumed there would be differences,” said Pranav Minasandra, a postdoctoral researcher and lead author of the study. “But we found common patterns in how animals switch between behaviors, regardless of what species and which individual. It’s as if their behavior was built on the same hidden algorithm.”

The finding goes against what many might expect. Imagine a hyena that’s been walking for 10 minutes. Most people would assume it’s more likely to stop soon. The researchers thought so too.

“We originally thought the probability of switching behaviors would increase over time, as we assumed it would not be optimal to lock-in to any behavior,” explained Minasandra.

Instead, the opposite was true. Animals became more committed to the behavior the longer they stayed in it. This effect – known as a “decreasing hazard function” – appeared across all three species.

Predicting what comes next

The researchers also examined a concept they call “predictivity decay.” This refers to how well current behavior can predict future behavior.

As time goes on, it gets harder to make accurate predictions because of random shifts and outside influences.

Still, even this unpredictability showed a consistent pattern. “We found that the pattern of predictivity decay was remarkably consistent across all animals studied, implying a shared architecture beneath the surface,” the researchers said.

Why do these patterns exist?

The study points to two possible explanations. One is simple: positive feedback. The longer an animal stays in a behavior – like lying down – the more reasons there are to continue.

Maybe it’s comfortable, feels safe, or is simply copying what its group is doing. In any case, staying becomes easier than switching.

The second theory involves decision-making over multiple timescales. Animals are constantly processing cues from different sources: hunger, danger, weather, and social cues.

Each signal operates on its own rhythm. The way these rhythms overlap might explain why behavior unfolds the way it does.

More questions ahead

There’s still a lot to explore. Do these patterns apply to animals that live alone? What about animals at different stages of life, or under stress? Could these long-behavior states help save energy, improve attention, or coordinate group movement?

“What this study suggests is that real animals, be they hunting, hiding, or resting, are guided by hidden structures that seem to echo across life’s branches,” noted Meg Crofoot, Director of the Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies.

Animal behavior may seem unpredictable. But this research suggests that, deep down, many species are following a similar rhythm. One that links creatures as different as hyenas, coatis, and meerkats in a quiet, shared structure of movement.

The full study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

—–

Like what you read? Subscribe to our newsletter for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates. 

Check us out on EarthSnap, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

—–