Aggressive and Nonaggressive Interactions among Captive Populations of the Brush-Tail Possum, Trichosurus vulpecula (Marsupialia: Phalangeridae)

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Abstract
A study of aggressive and nonaggressive encounters among a group of captive brush-tail possums revealed that the majority of the aggressive encounters involved the dominant male and the subordinate males. Selective aggression of the dominant male towards other males of the population may function to differentially exclude young adult males from the home territory. Removal of the dominant male for a short period did not produce any significant changes in the dominance hierarchy of the remainder of the group, and the male readily reasserted his dominance when reintroduced into the group. New animals introduced into the group generally occupied a low position in the hierarchy. The results of this study are consistent with observations of other mammalian species which suggest that conspecific aggression is predominantly an inter-male phenomenon.