The structure of animal social networks influences survival and reproductive success, as well as pathogen and information transmission. However, the general mechanisms determining social structure remain unclear. Using data from 73,767 social interactions among wild spotted hyenas collected over 27 years, we show that the process of social inheritance determines how offspring relationships are formed and maintained. Relationships between offspring and other hyenas bear resemblance to those of their mothers for as long as 6 years, and the degree of similarity increases with maternal social rank. Mother-offspring relationship strength affects social inheritance and is positively correlated with offspring longevity. These results support the hypothesis that social inheritance of relationships can structure animal social networks and be subject to adaptive tradeoffs.

动物社会网络的结构影响生存和繁殖成功，以及病原体和信息传递。然而，决定社会结构的一般机制仍不清楚。使用 27 年来收集的野生斑鬣狗之间 73,767 次社会互动的数据，我们表明社会遗传的过程决定了后代关系的形成和维持方式。后代与其他鬣狗之间的关系与其母亲的关系长达6年之久，并且相似程度随着母亲社会等级的增加而增加。母子关系强度影响社会遗传，与子代寿命呈正相关。