Figure 3: Troop fission–fusion.

Using data from the period of September 2012 to May 2013, when all GPS collars were fully functioning, we analyzed spatial/temporal fission–fusion events in the WRT. (a). spatial patterns of troop fission–fusion. The lines in this three-dimensional representation are the longitudinal and latitudinal positions of each social component over time. The vertical projection, in red, shows the spatial attraction represented by the spatial affinity coefficient (SAC) values between the GNG-breeding band, GNG-all-male band and solitary male (these comprise the GNG-herd); the horizontal projection illustrates the fission–fusion dynamics and social affinity of all five social components (GNG-herd plus the DFJ-breeding band and DFJ-AMU) in the multilevel society of the WRT-troop. The width of the projection in each time segment represents the SAC value determined by the spatial spread of the social components (b). This social dynamics diagram illustrates the four stages categorized using the SAC thresholds. The distance between the lines and stripes represent the degrees of fission–fusion (based on the SAC index) between each social component within the WRT-troop.