• African penguin
• captive colony
• conflict menagement
• nest distance

This study aims at analysing the competitive dynamics in a captive colony of African penguins (S. demersus) housed at the Pistoia Zoological Garden (PT).
The analysis is divided into two parts.
In a first part, the distribution of the agonistic events’ frequency is considered in relation to the intrinsic characteristics of individuals, such as sex and age, and the spatial distance of opponents’ nests. The hierarchical organization of the colony is then investigated, and conflict management strategies are analysed from a hierarchical and spatial organization perspective.
The second part of this work investigates the presence of self-directed behaviours as indicators of anxiety states in a post-conflict condition. Again, it is analysed how various variables do or do not influence these behaviours, focusing on intrinsic characteristics of individuals (sex and age), the role of the opponent during aggression (victim or aggressor), the spatial distance of opponents’ nests, and intensity indicators of the competitive events.
During the observation period, the animals were moved to a new area where they spent a long time under high population density conditions. To account for this change in density condition, in each of the above analyses, information on the location of the individuals was included as a control factor.
The species lends itself well to this type of study because it is well represented in zoological parks, where individuals are monitored and well identified, with detailed information including sex, age and parental relationships (informations that are difficult to find in the wild). In addition, the species has rarely been the subject of scientific investigation, especially regarding social behaviour.