Ambivalent signals during agonistic interactions in a captive wolf pack

Fatjó, Jaume; Feddersen-Petersen, D.; Ruiz-de-la-Torre, J.L.; Amat, Marta; Mets, Monique; Braus, Barbara K.; Manteca, Xavier

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2006.11.009

Cited by 21 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Although aggressive behaviours like stare , growl , show teeth and bite are labelled as dominant behaviour by some authors [ 37 , 38 ], in the current study none of these behaviours met the criteria for suitable rank indicator, especially because of insufficient unidirectionality. This compares to the outcomes of the more detailed analyses of aggressive wolf–wolf interactions, where no link between bared teeth and rank position could be revealed unless the retraction of the lips was taken into account [ 58 ]. Moreover, in our study aggressive behaviours have been observed to occur simultaneously with lowered postures, which contradicts their interpretation as dominant behaviours.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Dominance in Domestic Dogs: A Quantitative Analysis of Its Behavioural Measures

et al. 2015

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A dominance hierarchy is an important feature of the social organisation of group living animals. Although formal and/or agonistic dominance has been found in captive wolves and free-ranging dogs, applicability of the dominance concept in domestic dogs is highly debated, and quantitative data are scarce. Therefore, we investigated 7 body postures and 24 behaviours in a group of domestic dogs for their suitability as formal status indicators. The results showed that high posture, displayed in most dyadic relationships, and muzzle bite, displayed exclusively by the highest ranking dogs, qualified best as formal dominance indicators. The best formal submission indicator was body tail wag, covering most relationships, and two low postures, covering two-thirds of the relationships. In addition, both mouth lick, as included in Schenkel’s active submission, and pass under head qualified as formal submission indicators but were shown almost exclusively towards the highest ranking dogs. Furthermore, a status assessment based on changes in posture displays, i.e., lowering of posture (LoP) into half-low, low, low-on-back or on-back, was the best status indicator for most relationships as it showed good coverage (91% of the dyads), a nearly linear hierarchy (h’ = 0.94, p<0.003) and strong unidirectionality (DCI = 0.97). The associated steepness of 0.79 (p<0.0001) indicated a tolerant dominance style for this dog group. No significant correlations of rank with age or weight were found. Strong co-variation between LoP, high posture, and body tail wag justified the use of dominance as an intervening variable. Our results are in line with previous findings for captive wolves and free-ranging dogs, for formal dominance with strong linearity based on submission but not aggression. They indicate that the ethogram for dogs is best redefined by distinguishing body postures from behavioural activities. A good insight into dominance hierarchies and its indicators will be helpful in properly interpreting dog-dog relationships and diagnosing problem behaviour in dogs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Dominance in Domestic Dogs: A Quantitative Analysis of Its Behavioural Measures

et al. 2015

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“…Aggression towards familiar dogs describes a situation of species-specific social conflict between two or more dogs living in the same household that is unlikely to be strongly influenced by an assistance dog rearing programme. Interestingly, canine intra-group conflict usually includes a dimension of ambivalence and anxiety 21 , which would help to explain the association we found between this form of aggression and joint hypermobility. However, a weakness of the dataset was that the instructions for C-BARQ tell respondents not to complete the block of questions on familiar-dog aggression if there was no other dog in the household.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 81%

First evidence for an association between joint hypermobility and excitability in a non-human species, the domestic dog

Bowen

Fatjó

Serpell

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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There is a well-established relationship between joint hypermobility and anxiety in humans, that has not previously been investigated in other species. A population of 5575 assistance dogs were scored for both hip hypermobility and 13 behaviour characteristics using previously validated methods. Our results suggest a positive association between hip joint hypermobility and emotional arousal in domestic dogs, which parallel results found in people.

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“…In contrast to this traditional “age-(and sex)-graded” model, more recently several authors claim that the relationships in the typical wolf family, are better described as parents-offspring-pups relationships rather than as a pecking order dominated by an alpha male (alpha, beta down to omega animals; e.g., Bloch, 2002; Fatjo et al, 2007; Mech & Cluff, 2010). Thus, a dominance hierarchy within the typical ‘nuclear’ family pack could be alternatively viewed as just a reflection of the age, sex and reproductive structure of the group (Mech, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, a dominance hierarchy within the typical ‘nuclear’ family pack could be alternatively viewed as just a reflection of the age, sex and reproductive structure of the group (Mech, 1999). Although the same authors suggest that traditional concepts of dominance hierarchy may still be useful for evaluating the social dynamics of captive families composed of artificially assembled unrelated individuals (Mech, 1999; Packard, 2003; Fatjo et al, 2007). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dominance relationships in a family pack of captive arctic wolves (Canis lupus arctos): the influence of competition for food, age and sex

Cafazzo

Lazzaroni

Marshall-Pescini

2016

PeerJ

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BackgroundDominance is one of the most pervasive concepts in the study of wolf social behaviour but recently its validity has been questioned. For some authors, the bonds between members of wolf families are better described as parent-offspring relationships and the concept of dominance should be used just to evaluate the social dynamics of non-familial captive pack members (e.g., Mech & Cluff, 2010). However, there is a dearth of studies investigating dominance relationships and its correlates in wolf family packs.MethodsHere, we applied a combination of the most commonly used quantitative methods to evaluate the dominance relationships in a captive family pack of 19 Arctic wolves.ResultsWe found a significant linear and completely transitive hierarchy based on the direction of submissive behaviours and found that dominance relationships were not influenced by the competitive contexts (feeding vs. non-feeding context). A significant linear hierarchy also emerges amongst siblings once the breeding pair (the two top-ranking individuals) is removed from analyses. Furthermore, results suggest that wolves may use greeting behaviour as a formal signal of subordination. Whereas older wolves were mostly dominant over younger ones, no clear effect of sex was found. However, frequency of agonistic (submissive, dominant and aggressive) behaviours was higher between female–female and male–male dyads than female–male dyads and sex-separated linear hierarchies showed a stronger linearity than the mixed one. Furthermore, dominance status was conveyed through different behavioural categories during intra-sexual and inter-sexual interactions.DiscussionCurrent results highlight the importance of applying a systematic methodology considering the individuals’ age and sex when evaluating the hierarchical structure of a social group. Moreover, they confirm the validity of the concept of dominance relationships in describing the social bonds within a family pack of captive wolves.

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Ambivalent signals during agonistic interactions in a captive wolf pack

Cited by 21 publications

References 11 publications

Dominance in Domestic Dogs: A Quantitative Analysis of Its Behavioural Measures

Dominance in Domestic Dogs: A Quantitative Analysis of Its Behavioural Measures

First evidence for an association between joint hypermobility and excitability in a non-human species, the domestic dog

Dominance relationships in a family pack of captive arctic wolves (Canis lupus arctos): the influence of competition for food, age and sex

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