Abstract
The influence of individual factors on dominance rank and the relationship between rank distance and patterns of aggression predicted by models of evolutionarily stable strategies (ESS) of animal conflict were investigated in a managed bachelor group of Sorraia horses, Equus caballus. The group was composed of four to six stallions 3- to 12-years-old during the study period. The dominance hierarchy was significantly linear and rank was not related to age, weight, height or aggressiveness. Frequency and intensity of agonistic interactions were low, but higher-ranking stallions did not receive lower aggressiveness than lower-ranking stallions. There was some evidence that dominance relationships were more contested among close-ranking stallions, as predicted. Agonistic-related interactions among close-ranking stallions served similar functions to those among distant-ranking stallions, but the latter interacted more frequently than expected for access to resting sites and/or resting partners. Therefore, we found some evidence that agonistic-related interactions among distant-ranking stallions play a larger role in providing access to valuable and defendable resources than those among close-ranking stallions. Nevertheless, the fact that space to escape from aggression was limited and breeding access was independent from dominance rank may have reduced the benefits relative to costs of aggression and therefore limited the occurrence of contests over dominance and resources.
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Acknowledgments
We thank José Luís Sommer d’Andrade for permission to conduct this study at Fontalva Estate, for information provided about the horses and their management, and for assistance in measuring body weight. We are also indebted to Dr. Charlotte Hemelrijk and Dr. George Estabrook for providing their computer programs. F.H. was supported by a Doctoral Fellowship granted by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (SFRH/BD/8792/2002).
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Heitor, F., Vicente, L. Dominance relationships and patterns of aggression in a bachelor group of Sorraia horses (Equus caballus). J Ethol 28, 35–44 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-009-0152-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-009-0152-1