Aggressive Behaviors
Mouse Ethogram > Active Behaviors > General Activity > Agonistic Interactions > Aggressive Behaviors
Overview and Meaning
In an agonistic interaction, the performance of aggressive behaviors following a threat indicates escalated aggression.
Aggressive behaviors are most commonly seen in unstable or forming hierarchies, or when animals intrude upon a territory. Aggressive behaviors continue, and escalate in intensity to become full-blown fighting. A fight is terminated by fleeing and submissive behaviors; or by the castration or death of one of the animals involved.
Female aggression increases during pregnancy and lactation, and can be directed toward both males and females. Males tend to direct aggression primarily at other males.
Behaviors
Threat behavior is a form of agonistic interaction, reflecting a behavior chain of individual goal-directed behaviors, which include:
Classification
Contexts
Agonistic interactions can occur in the context of territorial behavior and/or dominance behavior. Territorial behavior and dominance behavior differ in the context that they occur, the resources under competition, and the threat behavior that initiates the interaction.
Variants
Fighting
Aggressive behaviors include:
Aggressive behaviors are part of
Agonistic Interactions
The full behavior chain consists of:
Agonistic interactions occur to assert territory or dominance. This can proceed as either mediated aggression or escalated aggression, differentiated by the absence or presence of aggressive behaviors.
Stanford Department of Comparative Medicine presents
A Comprehensive Ethogram of the Laboratory Mouse
