Mammal societies range from the complex organizations of the meerkat to the simple pair bond of the gibbon.  All these societies exit to provide an advantage in the fight for survival. Animals that live in societies or groups usually have a leader.  Either a dominant male or a dominant female. And a "pecking order" from the leader to the youngest member. But a need for leadership is not the prime reason for social ranking.  More important is the survival of the society by living and working together.

Priorities: Mammals desire to mate and pass on their genes is so strong that competition is often fierce. Usually only the fittest animals succeed and give birth to the next generation. Feeding and defense also influence the way an animal lives. Flesh eaters that hunt prey larger than themselves usually live in a stable group.  They prey they hunt, mostly grazing mammals, live in even larger groups. A herd is more likely to spot a predator than a single animal.  herd is also able to confuse a predator by scattering.

Types of Societies: Most birds are monogamous (having one mate) because it takes two to feed their young.  But with mammals, the females nurse their young. As a result, the males can mate with more than one female, and most mammal societies are polygamous. Many are made up of one male and several females. Others, like the chimpanzee's, consist of several males and several females living together.  In spatial societies, mammals like badgers and foxes share den and family duties, such as reading the young and protecting their territory, but they hunt alone at night.  Many mammals societies are seasonal, coming together  for the breeding season, and then splitting into loose groups for the remaining of the year.
 

Lifetime Partners:  Only a few mammals, such as the wolf and the gibbon, form lifelong partnerships. The majority of wolves live where food is scarce in winter and the prey large.  Communal hunting and teaching young the likely places to find food and how to hunt large prey a a team help them survive, as does sharing the duty of bringing back food for the young.

Gibbons are only apes that form lifelong partnerships. The reason may be that they gibbon spends most of its time in the treetops of the rain forest, where visibility is poor and it is easier for a pair to defend its territory and young.

Harem Societies: The lion is the only sociable big cat, and it lives in a harem society.   male lion lives and mates with all the females in this harem. He earns the right by being the strongest male, fighting off rivals if necessary.  Sometimes two little brothers will defend the same harem.

Zebras, which are often prey to lions, also live in harems. Each group has its own territory, often over lapping that of other zebra groups.  During the dry season, finding food is critical.  The small groups join into a large herd of zebras, which travels around searching for suitable grazing.

Seasonal Societies: Many mammal societies are loosely organized but come together during mating season.  In such seasonal societies, males are much larger than females.  With red deer,. the adult male finds a good patch of grazing ground to attract females.  He defends his patch against other males with antlers that are specially grown for the rut (mating season).  The stag mates with all the females in his territory, and in turn females are given good grazing.  Seals and sea lions have similar social structure.

Hierarchical Societies: The most common society has a dominant breeding pair, with other pairs in the group sometimes breeding too.  This lifestyle occurs where group hunting or defiance is vital to survival, as in the dog family.  If the dominant male or female is to o old or is injured, another animal overthrows it, and the other animals in the group move up in rank.  In this way the genes of the fittest and strongest are passed on.  Nighttime creatures like most civets tend to be solitary.  But the banded mongoose and the meerkat, which are active during the day, live in groups. While the group feeds, sentries are posted to warn of danger.  The group also shares nursery duties and digs out dens together.

Special Societies:

Whales and dolphins:
All cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) have highly developed social skills and strong emotional ties to each other.  The pod (group) structure varies according to the species, but all whales and dolphins cooperate in caring for the young and sick.  Whales are bound to each other so strongly that pod members will follow a stranded member's distress call and strand themselves as well. Conservationists have found that shooting the stranded whale to silence its signals may help save the rest of the pod.

Elephants:
Elephants live in matriarchal (female dominated) societies of females and juveniles.  Males leave the group at puberty to live in small bachelor groups, and breeding bulls lead solitary lives.  This system ensures that much of the senior female's experience is passed on before she dies.  Her teaching continues even after her breeding time has ended.

The Naked Mole Rat:
The small African rodent lives underground in a network of burrows consisting of a main nest site with tunnels to a number of food storage chambers and waste burrows. Each society has a single breeding pair.  The breeding females secretes special chemicals in the waste burrow that stop other mole rats from breeding.  The offspring born to the pair become workers or guards in a caste system more common among insects.  The workers dig tunnels, hunt for food, and care for the young.  The guards stay near the nest chamber, helping to rear the young and defending the nest.

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