Relations between Aggressive Social Dominance and Resource Utilization in Domestic Fowl

Aggressive social dominance refers to the relationship established between two previously unacquainted individuals as a consequence of an initial encounter, or series of encounters, during which, either by overt aggression (fighting) or by more subtle means, one member emerges superior. In domestic fowl, the usual measures of aggression include pecking, threatening to peck, and full jumping attack in which both pecking and the use of claws are displayed (Schjelderup-Ebbe, 1922; Allee, 1950). In a small group situation, each animal interacts with all others, and a rank order emerges in which one is dominant over all others, a second ranker is dominant over all but the top-ranked bird, and so on, down to the lowest-ranked bird dominant over no other individual. Such a system has been termed an aggressive rank order or dominance hierarchy. In small groups, the hierarchy is stable, each individual observing rules of behavior appropriate to its status within the organization. Such systems are closed, in the sense that a newcomer may become assimilated only after having undergone pairwise encounters with all residents of the group. Once individuals work out their rank relationships, the level or intensity of aggressive behavior declines. Subsequent interactions are marked by much more subtle events that reinforce dominance-subordinance relationships, e.g., eye contact directed by a dominant to a lower-ranking bird may be sufficient to evoke the appropriate response. Thus a social system based initially on high levels of aggression yields to a stable social unit with low measures of aggressive behavior

Aggression · Biology · Dominance (genetics · Fowl · Resource (disambiguation · Animal Behavior and Reproduction · Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies · Animal Nutrition and Physiology · Computer Science · Psychology · Social Psychology · Ecology