• contatti triadici sollecitati
• fase estrale
• gerarchia ripida
• metodo Post-Conflict/Matched-Control
• riconciliazione

Animal social systems imply competition and conflict of interest. To cope with dispersal forces, group-living animals use several conflict resolution tactics, which have been deeply investigated in primates, carnivores and few species of birds. Here, we focus on aggression and post-conflict behaviour in a domesticated species, the donkey. In particular, this study aimed to evaluate the presence of reconciliation and third-party interactions, and the effects of the estrous phase on these phenomena. Nine Amiata donkeys (all female and aging 5.1 ±2.1SD years, hosted at the Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa) were the subjects of the study. The animals lived together in a paddock (40x60m) with ad libitum access to food and water. We collected about 200 hours of video recordings (July-November 2013) and a subset of 90 hrs were analysed with the Post Conflict/Match Control method. Both victims and aggressors were followed for 3 minutes after an agonistic interaction. In the post-conflict time-window we observed the affiliative behaviours (genital sniffing, nasal sniffing, muzzle-body contact, follow, walk together, contact) occurring between the former aggressor and the victim (reconciliation) and between the victim or the aggressor and a bystander (triadic contacts).