SOCIAL-DOMINANCE AND RANK RELATIONSHIPS I N DOMESTIC PIGS - A CRITICAL-REVIEW

Viewing dominance as an attribute of repeated agonistic interactions b etween two individuals, the present paper reviews theoretical approach es towards concepts of dominance, methods of measurement, and basic pr inciples and problems connected with social dominance in domestic pigs . Domestic pigs are able to establish social organization structures d uring ail stages of their ontogeny. According to definition, dominance relationships occur when a consistent asymmetry of the result of dyad ic agonistic interactions can be assessed. This must not necessarily b e connected immediately with a better availability of resources, or a high stability of existing dominance relationships, or a functional de finition of dominance. When sociometric characteristics are calculated , it seems to be appropriate to use them for different levels of a bio logical system (individual, individual pair, group). Investigations of social behaviour and dominance in farm animals should take into accou nt that mechanisms of social behaviour in confined environments are of ten carried out in parts only. Connections of the dominance concept wi th other concepts of behavioural regulation should be theoretically co nsidered and further investigated by experimental studies.