Long-term stability of dominance hierarchies in a wild parrot with fission-fusion dynamics

Abstract

Dominance hierarchies are a common feature of stable groups, allowing animals to limit the costs of fighting over access to resources. However, while the emergence of dominance is relatively well known from species that form stable groups, less is known about whether hierarchies are maintained in societies with open group membership. One challenge for species that live in an open social environment is that they have the possibility of engaging in dominance interactions with a large number of conspecifics. To better understand how animals navigate the complexities of interacting within a large, open society, we recorded social associations and aggressive interactions in a highly social, communally roosting parrot, the sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita). By following 515 individuals across three neighbouring communities and recording social interactions during foraging, we show that sulphur-crested cockatoos form clear, linear hierarchies. We find males rank higher than females and that adults rank higher than juveniles. Within sex, where individuals may still have to compete with up to 100 individuals from the same age-sex class, body size did not affect dominance rank. Finally, we find that, despite highly dynamic social associations (fission-fusion dynamics) among individuals, hierarchies are stable, with dominance ranks being highly repeatable across at least three years. This study demonstrates that closed group membership is not a pre-requisites for stable dominance hierarchies to emerge.