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Religion, Practice and Science of Non-Violence
living space among themselves. An animal that is still searching for a suitable territory, withdraws when it meets with an already established owner. When neighbouring territory owners meet near their common boundary, by means of specially evolved signals, each indicates to the other to keep out. The response is appropriate: instead of proceeding to intrude, the animal withdraws, and neighbours are thus contained by each other. The same applies to two groups of animals. This is how the animals manage to have all the advantages of their hostile behaviour without the disadvantages of physical conflict. They divide their living space in a bloodless way by the use of distance-keeping signals rather than actual fighting.
Some species of animals such as fish, lizards, birds and many mammals have the members of their groups arranged in orderly ranks called peck order. This is observed most commonly among hens in a chicken run. The order is based on threats or the direct use of force: the most aggressive animal is the highest in rank and it dominates the rest and has the right to nip or peck any of other subordinate animals, and they do not fight back. The remaining animals in the group are arranged in a series of decreasing dominance i.e., the second in rank cannot dominate the highest ranker but can dominate all the others, and so on down the line. The individual encounters in these animals that determine dominance are, however, not really fights, for they seldom involve bloodshed; they are more like symbolic trials of strength.
Thus we see that whether it is threat symbols or appeasement displays, territorial behaviour or peck order, in all these measures, aggressive behaviour is adaptive and useful. It makes sense biologically: It preserves the integrity of the species.
The same is not the case with man. His aggressive behaviour has now lost its adaptive function. For this we need to study the various stages through which man has evolved.
Evolution of Man
We know that gorillas and chimpanzees make use of objects such as branches of trees and stones against their enemies by dropping or tossing these objects in the air or sometimes unquestionably aiming them at the intruder in their territory. It is hypothesised that in many populations of apes, related to the
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