Badgers, hedgehogs, foxes and cats are fighting and having stand-offs over food left in British gardens, a study has revealed. A story from the BBC
Two universities analysed videos showing interactions between species. They found food left by people in urban gardens could benefit animals but could also draw competitors and predators. Nottingham Trent University (NTU), which worked on the study, said it was important to understand more about urban animals. The university, which worked with the University of Brighton on the study, found animals displayed a number of aggressive behaviours, including lunging, biting and striking out.
According to the study, badgers tended to dominate other species in the garden hierarchy while hedgehogs had more clashes than expected. The footage revealed more aggressive and submissive behaviour among animals than neutral interactions. From 316 instances where animals were spotted together, 175 ended in confrontation. Researchers also found that creatures were more likely to confront different species than their own. Cats and foxes appeared to take a particular dislike to one another, with 77% sparking some form of aggressive or defensive reaction – with cats dominating foxes.
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I guess if the food is scarce there will inevitably be clashes. There are even clashes at the bird feeders, though not all birds are aggressive. I presume there would be less aggression if the food was ample.
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Simple supply and demand I guess . We do witness resource guarding at the hide feeders , particularly with the Robins.
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