Abstract
THE peck order, observed in domestic poultry flocks, has four main components—aggressiveness, submission, acceptance of submission and recognition. Intra-specific aggressiveness arises as a result of sexual selection for mates, territory and food1, and submission signals and their acceptance are necessary to divert aggressiveness into harmless channels2. Recognition is necessary in a gregarious species to allow these other three forces to be integrated into a peck order. Aggressiveness is only lowered within a group; strangers are always attacked.
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References
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McBRIDE, G., FOENANDER, F. Territorial Behaviour in Flocks of Domestic Fowls. Nature 194, 102 (1962). https://doi.org/10.1038/194102a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/194102a0
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