Camelidae4
Member
I am looking for thoughts and input on dominance hierarchies in rats. Are hierarchies apparent in small populations of rats, like 2 or 3? Also, please define how you use the word dominance/dominant. I have only two girls at the moment and I feel like their dominance relationship is too fluid and complex for me to label one as more dominant than the other. I am using dominance in the sense of resources. The animal that wins a particular resource majority of the time is technically dominant. Also, what is a rats ritualized display of dominance/submission? Do they have ritualized displays in order to minimize injury? I also felt like male rats that I've had in the past had a rather fluid relationship, but I also remember the males fighting more often than my females.
