• Question: Why are animals agressive when another animal of their kind enters their area, is there a reason for this?:)

    Asked by larissaj22 to Jo, Kevin, Louise, Valeria on 20 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Kevin Mahon

      Kevin Mahon answered on 20 Jun 2012:

      That’s certainly not true of all species! Take penguins – if another individual comes to their they don’t get aggressive.

      Animals that do get agrressive do so as they are territorial, and wish to defend what they have – be it access to females, their offspring, food , water, shade or just the territory itself. Some very territorial species include lions, hippos and baboons!

      For many animals, they have adopted an approach of being cautious – many species may not act aggressively, but simply carefully in case they need to fight -or run away!

    • Photo: Joanna Cruden

      Joanna Cruden answered on 20 Jun 2012:

      Some animals are more territorial than others, imagine how you would feel if a stranger walked into your house with no warning, sometimes it is just surprise sometimes, but there are lots of animals that are not, providing they don’t see the other animal as a threat, for example if a mother has young she will be more aggessive if she is protecting them unless she is used to having other around her when she has babies at foot, like herding animals as an example.

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