Do ownership conventions really exist?
Speckled wood butterfly in England
- Males defend sunspots to attract females
- Sunspots provide warmth for high activity levels
- Owners contest with intruders using spiral flight
- New owners always beat former owners after experimental removal
- Territory value low because of ephemeral nature of territories?
But--no bourgeois convention found in Sweden
- Returning owners engaged in long battles and usually won
- differences in territory value or changes in fighting ability during removal?
Similar studies in birds often find previous owner regains territory upon release