Figure 1 25. 
Weight and age differentials between males and females engaged in conflict situations in which the male was the loser. 
There were too few instances in which the male won over a female to justify their inclusion in a graph. See figure 123 for 
additional explanation. The large square represents the mean for all these winning females, and the circled dot represents 
the mean for all these losing males. 
Arbitrary age class intervals for losers: 
1 . Loser is younger and under 1 50 days of age. 
2. Sibs of all ages. 
3. Loser is the older. 
A. Under 1 50 days of age. 
As a result of these and similar observations the 
following conclusions are warranted: When the 
amount of food is restricted, fighting at the food 
source increased. When the food supply is ample, 
there is little fighting about the food but an increase 
elsewhere. 
e. Social rank and the acquisition of food. At 
several places in the previous discussions, it has 
been pointed out that individuals of low social 
rank (a) exhibited marked avoidance of other rats, 
B. 1 50 to 350 days of age. 
C. 350 to 600 days of age. 
D. Over 600 days of age. 
4. Loser is younger and from 1 50 to 350 days of age. 
(b) were extremely wary in their approach to the 
Food Pen even when other rats were absent, and 
(c) frequently were chased by their higher ranking 
associates, even when no competitive situation 
existed. Although most individuals, regardless of 
social rank, did not appear to experience undue 
difficulty in obtaining food, the peculiar set of 
circumstances relating to the few individuals at 
the very bottom of the social hierarchy were quite 
striking. The following set of observations succinctly 
194 
