Having a regular break, could be the secret to a long and successful monogamous relationship, at least for swans. Swans are one of the most monogamous animals in the world, and using new technology, a study in Melbourne has discovered ‘synchronicity’ is vital for couples that stay together. Surprisingly, some long-term and committed swan pairings, also take month long breaks from each other.
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00:00OK, eyes on the uncollared birds.
00:05For almost two decades Melbourne University academics have been catching,
00:10tagging,
00:11Did we get all five?
00:13I think we did.
00:14Fantastic.
00:15and safely releasing the black swans of Albert Park Lake.
00:19OK, yep.
00:20Swans are thought to be lifelong lovers
00:23and researchers have found there's truth to the fairy tale, but
00:26Divorce is not uncommon.
00:28About 10% of the swan pairs don't last,
00:31so we've got a pair that has been around and together since the beginning of the study,
00:3518 years, pretty good innings,
00:37and others that get together for a month or two and then decide,
00:41no, this is not for them.
00:43Plus cheating happens.
00:45One in six of the cygnets on the lake
00:48are fathered by a male from outside the pair bond.
00:51And new movement tracking collars have now discovered
00:54that successful monogamous couples are more synchronised,
00:58doing the same thing at the same time.
01:00However, it doesn't get better over time.
01:03Being together for a longer time doesn't actually make you more synchronous
01:07than partners that have been together for a year or two.
01:09And while some long-term pairs stay synchronised all year round,
01:13others fly away for a holiday.
01:15These breaks would probably range for on average about three months
01:18over the non-breeding period,
01:20or they would come back together before this sort of time of year now.
01:24Researchers say they'll now focus on finding out why this happens.
01:29Although they've observed both males and females leaving.
01:32Whilst the studies found that the sex lives of Australia's black swans
01:36is far more complicated than anyone thought,
01:38it's consistently found that the population here is really healthy,
01:42despite being in the middle of suburbia and with a regular Grand Prix as well.
01:45But humans could be more careful.
01:48We lose swans to collisions with cars every year.
01:51We spend more time than we wish we would extracting fishhooks.
01:55So, apart from caring for black swans more,
01:58is there a lesson in love to take from swans?
02:01I'm always a bit wary of extrapolating to humans in terms of animal behaviour,
02:06but I think they do remind us of what it's like
02:09to be in a monogamous human relationship,
02:11and especially I think this finding of birds spending time together
02:15and time apart is sort of a reminder of that.