Functions
Established dominance relationships may function to reduce the level of aggression between the individuals concerned. This reduces energy expenditure and the risks of injury during fighting.
A dominant animal is one whose sexual, feeding, aggressive and other behavior patterns subsequently occur with relatively little influence of the other group members. Subordinate animals are opposite; their behavior can be relatively easily influenced or inhibited by other group members. For many animal societies, an individual's position in the dominance hierarchy corresponds with their opportunities to reproduce, however, in other animal societies, the dominance hierarchy may be unrelated to (potential) opportunities to reproduce, e.g. Naked mole rat, bees and many farm, laboratory, zoo and companion animals. Studies have shown there is a strong association between high testosterone levels and dominance behaviors that help enhance mating success in men.
In hierarchical societies, dominant individuals may exert control over others. For example, in a herd of feral goats it is a large male that is dominant and maintains discipline and coherence of the flock. He leads the group but shares leadership on a foraging expedition with an old she-goat who will normally outlast a succession of dominant males. However, earlier work showed that leadership orders in goats did not seem to be related to age or dominance.
In sheep, position in a moving flock is highly correlated with social dominance, but there is no definite study to show consistent voluntary leadership by an individual sheep.
It has been suggested, however, that more commonly, decision-taking about the actions of the group is dissociated from social dominance.
Read more about this topic: Dominance (ethology)
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