IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Packer, C.; Pusey, A. | |
| Asymmetric contest in social mammals respect, manipulation and age-specific aspects | |
| 1985 Book Chapter | |
The application of game theory to the study of fighting behaviour has led to an important distinction being drawn between contests where the opponents have never met each other before, and contests where the opponents have interacted previously. In the former, each contestant may not be able to assess its chances of defeating its opponent; whereas in the latter, each contestant has prior information about the relative size, age, or motivation of the opponent. Thus in a stable social group, animals will be more likely to utilize asymmetries to settle contests without engaging in costly fighting. In this chapter, we will focus on the nature of asymmetries that are commonly found within groups of social mammals and we will show how these affect fighting behaviour. First, we will describe how asymmetries in 'resource-holding power' (RHP) and in `ownership' are utilized, and how one asymmetry may take priority over another in different mammalian species. Second, we describe how individuals may `abuse' their opponents' respect of an asymmetry and may utilize complex behaviours in order to cancel an asymmetry. Finally, we will discuss how in mammals age-specific asymmetries will typically include differences in RHP, payoffs and/or costs. |
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