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Naidenko, S.; Antonevich, A.L.
Sibling aggression in Eurasian lynx (_Lynx lynx_)
2009 Book Chapter
Sibling aggression has been studied mainly in birds, but it has also been described for a few mammalian species. In Eurasian lynx these fights occur at a specific age, mainly at the 7th week of postnatal development (63% of fights). This is not an obligate phenomenon and in a half of all litters these fights were not observed at all. Usually, fights start spontaneously, last from few minutes to a few hours and are not repeated during ontogeny in the same litter. These fights coincide with a critical period in lynx ontogeny: cubs switch to solid food, change their growth rate, intensify social relations and establish a hierarchy among littermates. Fight winners increase their growth rate during this critical period, which may provide them a better chance to survive in the wild. They also initiate more social contacts in the litter. Although there were no clear relations between probability of fights and cub's hormonal status, the stimulation of adrenal glands with ACTH injection seemed to increase the occurrence of fights.
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