Migration and Space
Even migrating iand animals maintain territorial range. Chimpanzees, gorillas. and other apes do not wander without some limits. Starlings that migrate widely come together in trees at night. Like man, animals have a home that takes on a special meaning of privacy. The friendly dog, which plays with its dog friend in the street, may become very possessive, even aggressive, when that dog enters "his" house. The compulsive urination of male dogs is said tl) be a way of staking out their territory, much as the library user puts a book on the table and the diner in the college cafeteria leaves some property (not worth losing!) in some staked-out eating space. The diner may even leave his lunch on his tray when he is forced to sit at a table filled with dirty dishes. He pushes them aside, letting the tray form a psychological barrier for his c0mfort in eating.
Space becomes a status symbol for animals just as it does forman. The size of the physical area around an animal that belongs to him alone is one indicator of the animal's social status within a group. Animals show a spatial hierarchy of status. For example, in a study of a flock of geese, the dominant bird tends to remain in the center of the flock, with the most important geese closest to him. The farther away from the center, the lower the animals rank. But in animals, as in man, the distribution of space is seldom uniform. Both seem to operate within some self-determined rules comparable to the way man sets up some of his spacing rules. A given environment helps to determine how closely we can approach neighbors, acquaintances, or strangers. ~ut enough crowding can break down the rules.
