Behavioral ecology in managed reserves: gender-based asymmetries in interspecific dominance in African elephants and rhinos
As large-bodied mammals become restricted to progressively smaller fragments of former habitat, competitive interactions and interspecies aggression are likely to intensify. Data on the outcomes of 159 encounters between endangered African pachyderms revealed that: (1) female elephants (Loxodonta africana) dominated both sexes of black rhinos (Diceros bicornis); and (2) rhino males but not females displaced elephant bulls. The results of an additional 127 interactions involving pacyderms and 12 additional mammals ranging in size from cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) to giraffe (Giraffa