Kea have non-linear dominance hierarchies and dominant individuals can force subordinates to cooperate in tasks for their own benefit.
Kea have dominance hierarchies, but these hierarchies are not necessarily linear. For example, an adult male may be dominant to a subadult male, who is dominant to a juvenile male, who, in turn, is dominant to the adult male.
Experiments on cooperation in kea suggest that dominant individuals can force subordinates to cooperate in tasks that benefit only the dominant birds.
• Image | ©️ Jared Kelly, Some Rights Reserved, (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
• Sources | (Diamond & Bond, 1999; Gajdon, Fijn, & Huber, 2004; Huber & Taborsky, 2001; Tebbich, Taborsky, & Winkler, 1996; Williams, 2001)
