Fighting To Survive

Have you ever seen pigeons fighting by beating opponents with their wings? Pigeons – like all birds – often fight to establish hierarchy, to secure a site for nesting, and to defend their nests.

However, in the animal world these fights rarely end in the death of the opponents.

And there are many ways physical altercations are avoided. Lions and tigers roar, elephants trumpet and many animals leave behind scent marks while foraging.

Some animals display their special plumage, enlarge their facial skin or grow antlers or special hair or skin patches to scare off opponents.

The other day I was watching birds in Khor Fakkan, Sharjah.

Suddenly, I saw two little Kentish plovers chasing each other. The territory holder started attacking the intruder. But the opponent was also determined. Slowly the defending plover drove the aggressor several metres away from the place of the first altercation.

I later found out the defender was a male preventing the opponent from reaching his mate, who was incubating a clutch of four eggs laid in a tiny depression on the bare and dry beach.