Territorial defense Flashcards
Define territoriality
The defense/maintenance of an area to the excursion of others, typically same-sex conspecifics
Define patrolling
Making incursions into another’s territory in order to asses group strength, or see whether a group is still there to expand into it
What is advertising?
The demonstration of presence, this can be energetically taxing as it detracts from hunting success, the detection of predators, mating and the care of offspring
What is fighting?
Signalling observation with physical assault as a last resort used to defend territory
What are th ebenefits of being territorial?
- Mate attraction and offspring
- Food abundance
- Protection against infanticide
What is infanticide?
- The killing of young offspring by a mature animal of the same species
- Usually happens when new males enter a group to try and enter females into oestrous
- Individual selection and sexual conflict
What is sociobiology?
Evolutionary theory to social organisation
What can affect the decision to defend territory?
- Availability of resources
- Group numbers
What are the two proposed mechanisms of group number estimation?
Subitizing - Perceptual estimation with a limit of 7 itms
Object file system - precise representation of discrete items (limit of 4)
What two characteristics are often used to determine relative numerousness?
- Ratio
- Area
What is the analog magnitude system?
- Cognitive mechanism used to estimate whether two quantities differ in magnitude by estimation, comparison and approximation
- Large quantities
- Present in invertebrates and vertebrates
What brain areas are associated with number estimation?
- Prefrontal cortex
- Intraparietal sulcus
