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Wikipedia has a short article on pecking order and a longer article on dominance hierarchy. The first article says, "...(the) functions of a pecking order are to reduce the costs of time, energy and risk of injury incurred during resource acquisition and defence."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecking_order
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominance_hierarchy
Social animals, like us peeps, usually have several pecking orders.
What are the pecking orders here?
How were they established? How are they maintained?
What do you think of them?
NSFW Note: The Wikipedia page for pecking order has a picture of tortoises fcuking.