Male and female agonistic and affiliative relationships in a social group of farm cats (Felis catus L.)

A dominance hierarchy based on the outcome of agonistic encounters was foun d among male and female domestic cats. A female dominated over some males. The dominance concept is also discussed in terms of social bonding. The rel ationships among adult females were amicable, whereas adult males showed re ciprocal tolerance. The flow of affiliative behaviour was directed mainly f rom females to one male of the group. The analysis of marking behaviour sho wed that this male sprayed urine and rubbed the perioral and cheek regions of the face on the objects of the environment at a higher rate than the oth er members of the group. Nevertheless, rubbing the perioral and cheek regio ns of the face on objects was not correlated to dominance rank, possibly be cause it has some function in social communication other than territorial d efence against strangers. No relationships have been found between claw scr atching, rolling on the ground and social rank, or between the former and o ther marking behaviour. It is concluded that claw scratching and rolling we re not utilised to mark territory. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All right s reserved.