The ecology of carnivore social behaviour and resource dispersion

This influential synthesis explored why carnivores vary so much in sociality, from solitary cats to group-living species, linking social organization to the distribution of food in space and time. It articulated ideas later formalized as the resource dispersion hypothesis, proposing that when food occurs in rich but unpredictable patches, several individuals can share a territory at little extra cost, setting the stage for group formation. The work framed the spatial and temporal patterning of resources as a key driver of whether animals live alone or together, helping explain the unusual sociality of lions among otherwise solitary cats. It became a foundational reference in carnivore behavioral ecology and shaped decades of thinking about the ecological roots of social systems. For enthusiasts it provides the conceptual backdrop for understanding why most cats are solitary while a few are social.