Date: July 2, 2019
Source: University of Exeter
Climbing
the social ladder is a ruff business for dogs, new research shows.
Top dogs
in a pack are known to assert their dominance, but scientists studied a group
of free-roaming mongrels and found high levels of aggression in the middle of
the dominance hierarchy.
Most
theories predict more aggression higher up the ladder. However, the researchers
say the difficulty of working out the pecking order in the crowded middle leads
to aggression.
The
research was carried out by the University of Exeter (UK) and by the Veterinary
Service of the Local Health Unit Rome 3 (Italy).
"Our
results reveal the unavoidable costs of climbing a dominance hierarchy,"
said Dr Matthew Silk, of the Environment and Sustainability Institute on the
University of Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall.
"In
the middle of the hierarchy -- where it's harder to predict which animal should
be dominant -- we see lots of aggression."
Professor
Robbie McDonald said: "Fighting over food and mates uses energy and time
and can lead to injuries, so hierarchies play an important role because animals
know their place without needing to fight."
The
year-long study examined a pack of 27 mongrel dogs that roamed freely in the
suburbs of Rome.
The dogs
did not live with humans, although they relied on humans for food.
Their
hierarchy was based on age and sex, with adults dominant over younger dogs and males
dominant over females of the same age group.
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