Dominance in Birds
In Dunnocks, two or three males may share one or more females in a polyandrous or polygynandrous mating system. This leads to the males' ranges to overlap so they would cooperate in order to defend the territory. Among the males is a dominance hierarchy: older birds tend to be the alpha male and first year birds are usually the beta males. Studies have not found cases of close male relatives being involved in any mating combinations.
Read more about this topic: Dominance Hierarchy
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