Cats live independent – some say selfish – lives, but it seems even Rome’s streetwise alley cats are chivalrous when it comes to food.
Many social animals have pecking orders in which the largest males tend to dominate. Roberto Bonanni of the University of Parma in Italy and colleagues found that feral cats in a courtyard in Rome also had a pecking order, determined by displays of aggressive or submissive behaviour. When near the food dish, however, females became dominant – the first time this has been documented in mammals. And although the adults treated kittens as low-ranking, the kittens were allowed…
