Territoriality and threat perceptions in urban humans

Abstract

Most investigators intuitively view territory and territoriality as two different sides of the same conceptual coin. Territory is seen as implying some measurable spatial entity, i.e., area, distance or volume; while territoriality is used to refer to a behavioural propensity of individuals or groups to monopolize a territory by excluding others from it (Altum, 1868; Howard, 1920; Mayr, 1935; Nobel, 1939; also see review in Malmberg, 1983). Thus defined, territoriality is a form of aggression (Wilson, 1975a) which, by default, has to be acted out or at least advertised for a territory to exist. An area that is not defended is not, strictly speaking, a territory and an animal which defends no area cannot, according to this view, be called territorial.