The DOI matches its Crossref record; 57 of the 59 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Stability of Social Status in Wild Rats: Age and the Role of Settled Dominance
Abstract
One way of understanding the evolution of social dominance is to establish which factors determine an animal's ability to dominate conspecifics. The dynamics of dominance between 20 adult male wild rats were investigated in a multi-generational, free-breeding colony in a large outdoor enclosure. Dominance relations between the adult males were stable and organised in a near-linear hierarchy. Dyadic interactions not fitting the social hierarchy, as well as challenges by subordinates and overt aggression by dominants were rare (< 5%) and principally occurred between animals of similar social rank. The correlates of social status within the colony show, for the first time in adult small mammals, that despite the significant role of body weight on the probability of winning contests, age was the most reliable indicator of adult dominance, with the higher ranking males being older but not necessarily heavier. Age also explained the outcome of 85% of agonistic encounters between dyads, compared with 65% for weights. The proximate mechanisms of age-related dominance fit better the 'previous outcome' hypothesis than the alternative 'fighting skill' or 'site dominance' hypotheses. The stability of dominance relations and the role of age, which in stable groups is equivalent with time spent in the colony, suggest that rats remain dominant over individuals that they have beaten in the past, long after initial body weight asymmetries have disappeared. The functional significance of the acceptance of subordinate social status is consistent with the fact that dominant individuals generally could not monopolize food resources or mates.
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“Those are: longer residence on a given territory than a rival, being older and heavier, history of winning previous fights and lack of stressful, traumatizing events.25,50,76,92,104”
From Ecological validity of social interaction tests in rats and mice (2019) · cites this paper as [104]
In the citing paper
“This is reflected mainly by fighting for food.”
From Ecological validity of social interaction tests in rats and mice (2019) · cites this paper as [104]
In the citing paper
“In naturalistic conditions, wild rats display robust social dominance, which was described in detail by Calhoun.25,104”
From Ecological validity of social interaction tests in rats and mice (2019) · cites this paper as [104]
In the citing paper
“In stable groups, even though overt aggression is largely reduced, animals can treat each other differently depending on their social position.”
From Ecological validity of social interaction tests in rats and mice (2019) · cites this paper as [104]
In the citing paper
“Such fights are most intensive when clear hierarchy is not yet established.”
From Ecological validity of social interaction tests in rats and mice (2019) · cites this paper as [104]
In the citing paper
“Both laboratory and wild alphas are more probable to copulate, but subordinate males usually have chances to reproduce as well 50,104,128 .”
From Ecological validity of social interaction tests in rats and mice (2019) · cites this paper as [104]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Berdoy, M., Smith, P., & Macdonald, D. W.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Central Science Laboratory, MAFF, Tangley Place, Worplesdon, Guildford, Surrey GU3 3LQ, England, UK
- Venue
- Behaviour
- Publisher
- Walter de Gruyter GmbH
- Published
- 1995
- Volume
- 132
- Issue
- 3-4
- Pages
- 193-212
- ISSN
- 0005-7959 (ISSN-L)
- 1568-539X
- OpenAlex
- W2007328016
- Cited by
- 116
- References
- 59
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 0.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Behaviour (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Keywords
- social dominance, dominance hierarchy, wild rats, Rattus norvegicus, body weight
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