Agonistic interactions among wild eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus)

Abstract

Agonistic behaviour exhibited by free-living chipmunks (Tamias striatus) in a naturally established population at Heney Lake, Quebec, was grouped into 11 categories and combinations thereof. Agonistic behaviour patterns were described from field and laboratory observations. A scheme of interrelationships among action–reaction pairs was constructed from field data. This scheme permits one to predict the likelihood of the occurrence of possible reactions of a chipmunk to a given action performed by a conspecific.