Sneeze to leave: African wild dogs (<i>Lycaon pictus</i>) use variable quorum thresholds facilitated by sneezes in collective decisions

“…1) were able to state that "little is known about the mechanisms underlying decision-making in vertebrate animal groups." Since then, however, a large literature has explored the rules governing social information use in collective decisions across various taxa, for example in insects (3), fish (2,4), birds (5,6), and mammals (7,8), including primates (9) and humans (10,11). What links decision making in all of these groups is the presence of social reinforcement, with individuals demonstrating a strong preference for an option chosen by others, which increases with the number of others who have selected it.…”