Costs dictate strategic investment in dominance interactions

Tobit Dehnen, Danai Papageorgiou, Brendah Nyaguthii, Wismer Cherono, Julia Penndorf, Neeltje J. Boogert, Damien R. Farine*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Dominance is important for access to resources. As dominance interactions are costly, individuals should be strategic in whom they interact with. One hypothesis is that individuals should direct costly interactions towards those closest in rank, as they have most to gain-in terms of attaining or maintaining dominance-from winning such interactions. Here, we show that male vulturine guineafowl (Acryllium vulturinum), a gregarious species with steep dominance hierarchies, strategically express higher-cost aggressive interactions towards males occupying ranks immediately below themselves in their group's hierarchy. By contrast, lower-cost aggressive interactions are expressed towards group members further down the hierarchy. By directly evaluating differences in the strategic use of higher-and lower-cost aggressive interactions towards competitors, we show that individuals disproportionately use highest-cost interactions-such as chases-towards males found one to three ranks below themselves. Our results support the hypothesis that the costs associated with different interaction types can determine their expression in social groups with steep dominance hierarchies. This article is part of the theme issue 'The centennial of the pecking order: current state and future prospects for the study of dominance hierarchies'.

Original languageEnglish
Article number20200447
JournalPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Volume377
Issue number1845
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 28 Feb 2022
Externally publishedYes

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