FOOD FIGHTS

FOOD FIGHTS

BY PRITHVIRAJ CHELLADURAI

Dominance and food behavior: Animal conflicts within social groups, and usually occur over food, territory, or mating. I tried to understand this fundamental behavior and further tried to mitigate some fights over food. I currently work with Patagonian maras and Capybaras. We serve a wide variety of foods, and their preferences invariably result in group supremacy. The dominating mara either sits on the food dish as an obstruction or urinates on the food dish. This obviously is not a good thing for his group mates. I divided the food bowls into two sections and set up two feeding stations for them. The dominant group used one, while the less dominant group used the other. Once they realized that everyone gets everything served, there was a sudden reduction in conflicts within the groups. They are now able to feed in peace at the same time.

Similarly, a female capybara was demonstrating dominance by pulling over the plates and wasting the food; this was effectively avoided by allowing them to eat from different feeding stations at the same time. We then developed an innovative design for the feeding stations with visual barriers that allowed all to eat without conflicts.