Community structure of the solitary giant pandas is maintained by indirect social connections

BACKGROUND: Indirect interactions between individual solitary mammals, such as the giant panda, are often overlooked because of their nature, yet are important for maintaining the necessary sociality in solitary species. METHODS AND RESULTS: Here, we determined the genetic identity of all giant panda individuals in a local population and matched these identities with their associations to determine social network of this solitary animal. Total thirty-five giant panda individuals were found in our field survey, and we constructed genetic and social networks for thirty-three individuals who successfully obtained genetic, age and sex information. The results showed that sex had great impact on both social network and genetic network, and age may have the potential to influence the social network of the giant pandas. Adult males, mostly in the central of the social network, which appeared significantly larger network connections than adult females. Due to the female-biased dispersal pattern of wild giant pandas, male-male pairs showed higher relatedness than female-female ones and multi-generational patrilinear assemblages are expected in the study area. CONCLUSIONS: The relatedness of individuals has an influence on the formation of community social structure of giant pandas, and indirect interactions among solitary giant pandas potentially function to reduce competition for resources and inbreeding. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40462-022-00354-1.