Animals Defend Their Territory

In ethology the term territory refers to any sociographical area that an animal a particular species consistently defends against conspecifics (and, occasionally, animals other species). Animals that defend territories in this way are referred to as territorial.
Territorial animals defend areas that contain a nest, den or mating site and sufficient food resources for themselves and their young. Defense rarely takes the form overt fights: more usually there is a highly noticeable display, which may be visual (as in the red breast the robin), auditory (as in much bird song, or the calls gibbons) or olfactory, through the deposit scent marks. Many territorial mammals use scent-marking to signal the boundaries their territories; the marks may be deposited by urination, by defecation, or by rubbing parts the bodies that bear specialised scent glands against the substrate. For example, dogs and other canids scent-mark by urination and defecation, while cats scent-mark by rubbing their faces and flanks against objects. Many prosimians use territorial marking; for example, the Red-bellied Lemur creates territories for groups two to ten individuals in the rainforests eastern Madagascar by scent marking: the male Diademed Sifaka also scent marks defended territories in some these same rainforests. The male Western fence lizard defends a territory by posturing and combat, but less intensely after the mating season.