van Roosmalen (1979) a tradition has developed of studies investigating postconflict behaviour, that is, of studies that examine how animals deal with the aftermath of aggression. Such studies, conducted mostly on nonhuman primates, have focused heavily on affiliative strategies such as reconciliation (an affiliative contact between former opponents) or consolation (an affiliative contact between the victim and a third party) that help resolve the conflict or minimize its costs (see Aureli et al. 2012 for a review). In particular, reconciliation has been shown to be nearly ubiquitous among primates. Studies of postconflict behaviour in other animal taxa are rarer but have generally confirmed the widespread occurrence of reconciliation (e.g., Cordoni and Norscia 2014; Fraser and Bugnyar 2011; Schino 1998; Wahaj et al. 2001) and/or of other conflict management strategies (e.g., Morris-Drake et al. 2021; Norscia et al. 2024). A separate tradition of studies has shown that group living animals tend to coordinate their activities, that is, to engage in similar activities at the same time (Sumpter 2011). A possible mechanism that may allow animals to coordinate their activities is social facilitation (Clayton 1978; Zajonc 1965) , that makes animals likely to "imitate" the behaviour of others (e.g., Galloway et al. 2005) . Possibly as a consequence of social facilitation, aggression among group living animals is often followed by other aggression, either between the same or different individuals (e.g., Glickman et al. 1997; Schino

The war between King Duṭugamunu and Elāra is the most significant singular war that took place in the pre-Christian period in Sri Lanka. It has the elements of modern international armed conflict (IAC). A local monarch waged it to unify the nation against an invading foreign force led by a foreign ruler who seized power through regicide. This historical conflict sparked extensive debates, criticisms, and varying interpretations, contributing to distortions of factual accounts. The studies analysing this battle from the perspectives of the modern International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is minimal. The branch of public international law that deals with IAC is International Humanitarian Law (IHL). The research problem that was investigated is 'Did the Sri Lankan monarch comply with the modern principles of international humanitarian law when there were no such laws at that time in the world and thereby, does that monarch deserve to be called as the founder of IHL? Accordingly, this study aims at analysing the motives, intentions, and conduct including the pre-conflict, in-conflict, and post-conflict behaviour of key actors and the war's outcome from the perspectives of IHL. The methodology used for this study is literature review. It is qualitative and interpretative in nature. The historical sources, international conventions and national legislations were used as primary and secondary sources for this purpose. The focus of the analysis is the evaluation of IHL principles in the context of the historical war. This study provides a unique analysis that suggests the application of principles akin to modern IHL by the ruling monarch nearly two millennia before the formal establishment of such principles. The major finding is that some 2019 years prior to the international community introduced the modern IHL principles such as humanity, avoidance of unnecessary suffering, proportionality of damages, humane treatment of prisoners of war (POW) etc., the ruling Sri Lankan monarch has recognised and applied them in this war and has recognised the new principle of Eternal Honour to POWs which is yet to recognise by IHL. Keywords: Humanitarian; International; Law; Vijiṭapura; War

BackgroundThird-party interference in agonistic contests entails a deliberate intervention in an ongoing fight by a bystanding individual (third party) and may be followed by post-conflict social behaviour to provide support to a specific individual. The mechanisms behind third-party intervention are, however, still largely understudied. The aim of this study was to investigate third-party interference, with the predictions that (1) the interferer derives benefits from its action by winning a fight, (2) that patterns of intervention depend on familiarity, (3) that dyadic fights last longer than triadic fights, and (4) that interferers engage in non-agonistic social behaviours afterwards. Pre-pubertal pigs (Sus scrofa) (n = 384) were grouped with one familiar and four unfamiliar conspecifics (all non-kin) to elicit contests for dominance rank. Third-party interference was analysed for the first 30 min after grouping, along with the behaviour (nosing or aggression), contest duration, contest outcome, and interferer behaviour after the fight (post-conflict social behaviour).ResultsThree types of interference were observed: non-agonistic involvement (nose contact) by the interferer in a dyadic fight; a triadic fight with each of three contestants fighting one opponent at a time; and triadic fights with two opponents jointly attacking the third one (two-against-one fights). The likelihood of a third-party intervention to occur did not depend on the presence of a familiar animal in the fight. However, once intervention was triggered, interferers attacked unfamiliar fight initiators more than familiar ones. Two-against-one fights lasted longer than other triadic fights and occurred more often when both initial contestants were females. Results of 110 triadic fights (out of 585 fights in total) revealed that interferers were more likely to win compared to the initial opponents at equal body weight. The most common post-conflict behaviour displayed by the interferer was agonistic behaviour towards another group member, independently of familiarity.ConclusionsThe general lack of discrimination for familiarity suggests interference is not driven by support to familiar individuals in pigs. The results show that intervening in an ongoing fight gives the interferer a high chance of contest success and may be a strategy that is beneficial to the interferer to increase its dominance status.

Networks in biology have provided a powerful tool to describe and study very complex biological processes and systems such as animal societies. Social network analysis allows us to assess different processes occurring in animal groups. In the current study, we use this approach to investigate how conflict dynamics and post-conflict interactions shape the social networks of groups of captive bottlenose dolphins. We first examined temporal changes and aggression-affiliation motifs in the observed dolphins’ network structure. Using the results of the previous analysis, we built two models that simulate the dynamics of aggression and affiliation in a small dolphin group. The first model is based only on the observed statistics of interactions, whereas the second includes post conflict memory effects as well. We found that the resulting social networks and their most common motifs matched the association patterns observed in wild and captive dolphins. Furthermore, the model with memory was able to capture the observed dynamics of this group of dolphins. Thus, our models suggest the presence and influence of post-conflict behaviors on the structure of captive dolphins’ social networks. Therefore, the network approach reveals as an effective method to define animal social networks and study animal sociality. Finally, this approach can have important applications in the management of animal populations in captive settings.

Conflict management in rooks (Corvus frugilegus): Victims do not display post-conflict affiliation but avoid their former aggressor

Group-living animals face a number of threats from extragroup conspecifics: from individuals seeking mating opportunities to rival groups attempting to access limited resources. The consequences of intergroup interactions can therefore include loss of mates, increased energy expenditure, and injury or death. There is increasing evidence that aggressive intergroup interactions can affect subsequent intragroup behavior, and that such post-conflict behavior may be directly related to the threats posed by different opponent groups (e.g., familiar vs. unfamiliar). However, empirical evidence for changes in intragroup behavior following intergroup conflict in social animals is limited. We compared the proximity and behavior of group members before and after 84 aggressive intergroup interactions involving 14 study groups of wild, habituated mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. Intergroup conflict affected subsequent intragroup behavior in several ways. We found that immediate movement away from the opponent following intergroup conflict was less likely between familiar groups compared to unfamiliar groups. However, both winning and losing groups spent twice as much time moving post-conflict, and losing groups spent less time resting. There was an increase in female intragroup affiliative interactions and a decrease in male intragroup agonistic interactions post-conflict. These results demonstrate that such intergroup contests can influence intragroup dynamics beyond the immediate period of interaction.

We designed 3 studies to identify postconflict behaviors that aid or hinder couple partners' emotional recoveries from their conflicts. For Study 1, we created a codebook of 18 postconflict behaviors, derived from 230 participants' daily descriptions of reconciliation efforts over a 3-week period. In Study 2, 340 MTurk participants used a checklist to report which of the 18 behaviors they engaged in following their most recent conflict with their partner. An orthogonal factor analysis revealed four dimensions of postconflict behavior: avoidance (e.g., sulk/withdraw), active repair (e.g., apologize), gain a new perspective (e.g., seek help from friends), and let go (e.g., drop the conflict). In Study 3, 226 cohabiting couples completed a 2-week diary for which they reported on their postconflict reconciliation strategies. Results revealed that postconflict behavior dimensions active repair and gain a new perspective predicted better postconflict residual affective recovery on days with conflict. In contrast, avoidance predicted poorer affective recovery on days with conflict. These results suggest that couples' behavior after conflict can facilitate or inhibit them from reconnecting intimately. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Supplemental Material for How to Kiss and Make-Up (or Not!): Postconflict Behavior and Affective Recovery From Conflict

This longitudinal study of 100 couples assessed individual and dyadic processes associated with romantic conflict recovery, or how couples behave in the moments following conflict. Couples completed measures of attachment anxiety and avoidance; a conflict discussion during which affect, behavior, and conflict resolution were coded; a cool-down discussion during which post-conflict behavior was coded; and measures of relationship satisfaction and stability one year later. Recovery sabotage (negative behavior and perseveration on conflict in the moments following conflict) was associated with high attachment anxiety and low avoidance. Recovery sabotage was unrelated to affect expressed during conflict and was instead tied to whether partners aired or suppressed grievances. Consistent with the demand-withdraw conflict pattern, recovery sabotage was associated with lower actor conflict avoidance but higher partner conflict avoidance. These effects were independent of conflict resolution, which was not significantly associated with recovery sabotage when other features of conflict were controlled. Recovery sabotage and conflict resolution also differentially predicted satisfaction and stability one year later. Findings suggest recovery sabotage is a distinct, developmentally organized relationship process tied to attachment history and behavioral, rather than affective, transactions between partners during conflict.

Since reconciliation was first described more than 20 years ago, a large number of postconflict behaviors have been observed among females in many polygynous primate species. However, few studies have been conducted among males, perhaps due to the rarity with which they maintain friendly relationships with one another and their aggressive competition for resources. Although this is true for many primate males, Sichuan snub-nosed monkeys Rhinopithecus roxellana represent a potential exception as male cooperation has been known to occur. In this study, using postconflict/matched-control(PC–MC) and time-rule methods, we analyzed postconflict behavior among males and the possible occurrence of bystander affiliation or reconciliation. A total of 246 PC–MC pairs among leader males were obtained. On average, each leader male exhibited only 0.04 aggressive behaviors per observation hour, and conciliation among leader males occurred at a low rate (2.03%) relative to other primate species. The occurrence of consolation–affiliation interactions between focal males and group members other than former opponents differed significantly between PCs and MCs, which is the first time this has been confirmed among R. roxellana males. We discuss the results in light of recent theories concerning consolation in primates. The patterns of postconflict contact demonstrated that R. roxellana may be a unique species among colobines.

Conflict management strategies can reduce costs of aggressive competition in group-living animals. Postconflict behaviors such as reconciliation and third-party postconflict affiliation are widely accepted as social skills in primates and have been demonstrated in many species. Although immature primates possess a repertoire of species-specific behaviors, it is thought that they gradually develop appropriate social skills throughout prolonged juvenility to establish and maintain complex social relationships within their group. We examined the occurrence of postconflict skills in five immature chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) over 15 mo, focusing on interactions that were not with the subject’s mother. We observed reconciliation, with conciliatory tendencies comparable to adults, and provide the first evidence that captive immature chimpanzees commonly reconciled using social play. However, immatures were not more likely to reconcile valuable than nonvaluable relationships. We also observed third party postconflict affiliation although at a lower level than reported for adults. Our results provide evidence for postconflict skills in immature chimpanzees but the lack of higher conciliatory tendency with valuable partners and low occurrence of third-party affiliation indicates extended juvenility may be required refine these skills. Further work is needed to investigate whether these behaviors have the same function and effectiveness as those found in adults.

In social species, conflict with outsiders is predicted to affect within-group interactions and thus influence group dynamics and the evolution and maintenance of sociality. Although empirical evidence exists for a relationship between out-group conflict and intragroup behavior in humans, experimental tests in other animals are rare. In a model fish system, we show that simulated out-group intrusions cause postconflict increases in intragroup affiliation but no changes in postconflict intragroup aggression. Postconflict affiliation was greater following intrusions by neighboring compared with nonneighboring individuals; neighbors represent greater threats to the dominance rank and breeding success of residents, and they are visible in the aftermath of the intrusion. By providing strong evidence of a link between out-group conflict and postconflict intragroup behavior and demonstrating that intragroup affiliation is affected by the nature of the out-group intrusion, our study shows the importance of considering postconflict behavior for our understanding of cooperation and social structure.

On the escalation and de-escalation of conflict

Abstract Recent research has shown that social relationships may exert positive effects on fitness. Therefore, it is expected that animals make efforts to develop and preserve close social bonds. Reconciliation is a conflict resolution mechanism, which allows buffering the negative effects of aggressive conflict on social relationships. As socioecological theories claim that intrasexual competition and conflict‐shaped social interactions among macaque males, postconflict behaviour should reflect the effects of these evolutionary forces. Here, we present the results of a study on a provisioned group ofMacaca arctoidesinThailand focusing exclusively on male postconflict behaviour. Through an Information Theory–Model Selection approach, we evaluated the relative support for three predictions about the occurrence of reconciliation and the quality of the opponents' social relationships. The strength of the opponents' affiliative relationship was the only variable predicting reconciliation occurrence. This agrees with the main prediction of the valuable relationship hypothesis for the function and distribution of reconciliation, which states that the opponents sharing high‐quality relationships are more likely to reconcile, and this interaction is aimed to repair the disturbing effects of previous aggression on their relationship. The conciliatory tendency found among these wild males is much lower than reported previously for this species from captive conditions, matching more closely the rates reported for species with an intolerant‐despotic dominance style. The results offer strong support for the importance of developing and preserving valuable relationships, even among rather intolerant males.

Musk deer (Moschus spp.) are small, solitary forest ruminants well-known for the musk secreted by adult males. Because of illegal hunting and habitat degradation and loss, the five species of musk deer are classified as endangered. Musk deer farming has been a positive example of ex situ conservation, maintaining deer numbers whilst sustaining musk production. This study was conducted at the Xinglongshan Musk Deer Farm in Gansu Province in northwest China, and was designed to explore the relationships among musk extraction, fighting ability and social rank in captive, male alpine musk deer (Moschus sifanicus). Results showed that musk production was related to a male’s rank in the dominance hierarchy. Males in the middle rank of the dominance hierarchy tended to produce more musk than deer of higher and lower ranks. This is due to the time-energy budgeting patterns and captive stress of males with different status in the dominance hierarchy. That is, high-ranking males need to budget more time and energy to maintain their higher rank, while low-ranking males are exposed to more aggression from higher-ranking individuals, thus limiting their access to resources such as food and shelter. Accordingly, high-ranking and low-ranking males endured more stress than middle-ranking males, negatively affecting their annual musk production. Supporting the correlation between musk production and the frequency of tail-rubbing behavior was not significant, average musk extraction could not be predicted based on the frequency of tail-rubbing alone. Status in the dominance hierarchy, however, was positively correlated with tail-rubbing frequency, with males of higher rank tending to tail-rub more frequently. Conflict winners tended to initiate tail-rubbing after the conflict; tail-rubbing accounted for 83.33% of the post-conflict behavior expressed by the winner. Tail-rubbing was one of the behavioral rewards of winning a conflict and was also related to releasing aggression; not solely for scent marking territory and trails. Based on the results of this study, there was no direct relationship between musk production and captive males’ status in the dominance hierarchy (and, therefore, in the intensity of aggression displayed). If the sole aim of musk deer farms is to domesticate musk deer for maximum production of musk, we suggest that highly aggressive males be removed from the population. Musk production will remain unchanged, however, aggression level and intensity of fighting could be lessened thus reducing farming costs.

Reconciliation, a post-conflict affiliative interaction between former opponents, is an important mechanism for reducing the costs of aggressive conflict in primates and some other mammals as it may repair the opponents' relationship and reduce post-conflict distress. Opponents who share a valuable relationship are expected to be more likely to reconcile as for such partners the benefits of relationship repair should outweigh the risk of renewed aggression. In birds, however, post-conflict behavior has thus far been marked by an apparent absence of reconciliation, suggested to result either from differing avian and mammalian strategies or because birds may not share valuable relationships with partners with whom they engage in aggressive conflict. Here, we demonstrate the occurrence of reconciliation in a group of captive subadult ravens (Corvus corax) and show that it is more likely to occur after conflicts between partners who share a valuable relationship. Furthermore, former opponents were less likely to engage in renewed aggression following reconciliation, suggesting that reconciliation repairs damage caused to their relationship by the preceding conflict. Our findings suggest not only that primate-like valuable relationships exist outside the pair bond in birds, but that such partners may employ the same mechanisms in birds as in primates to ensure that the benefits afforded by their relationships are maintained even when conflicts of interest escalate into aggression. These results provide further support for a convergent evolution of social strategies in avian and mammalian species.

Know your enemy: accessibility and danger modulate the use of conciliatory patterns in mandrills

Post-conflict behaviour has been widely investigated in anthropoid primates but not extensively in prosimians. Here, we report the reconciliation pattern of a 14-individual group of wild brown lemurs (Eulemur fulvus) in the Berenty gallery forest (South Madagascar). We found that reconciliation occurs only in the non-feeding context and that it works in reducing the risk of renewed aggression. Thus, reconciliation would provide an immediate positive feedback that is probably independent of the quality of the relationship between opponents. Reconciliation may also be a hic-et-nunc mechanism, needed to avoid conflict spreading across group members, possibly leading to social disruption.

Aggression does not increase friendly contacts among bystanders in geladas (Theropithecus gelada)

BackgroundBystander affiliation (post-conflict affiliation from an uninvolved bystander to the conflict victim) may represent an expression of empathy in which the bystander consoles the victim to alleviate the victim's distress (“consolation”). However, alternative hypotheses for the function of bystander affiliation also exist. Determining whether ravens spontaneously offer consolation to distressed partners may not only help us to understand how animals deal with the costs of aggressive conflict, but may also play an important role in the empathy debate.Methodology/Principal findingsThis study investigates the post-conflict behavior of ravens, applying the predictive framework for the function of bystander affiliation for the first time in a non-ape species. We found weak evidence for reconciliation (post-conflict affiliation between former opponents), but strong evidence for both bystander affiliation and solicited bystander affiliation (post-conflict affiliation from the victim to a bystander). Bystanders involved in both interactions were likely to share a valuable relationship with the victim. Bystander affiliation offered to the victim was more likely to occur after intense conflicts. Renewed aggression was less likely to occur after the victim solicited affiliation from a bystander.Conclusions/SignificanceOur findings suggest that in ravens, bystanders may console victims with whom they share a valuable relationship, thus alleviating the victims' post-conflict distress. Conversely victims may affiliate with bystanders after a conflict in order to reduce the likelihood of renewed aggression. These results stress the importance of relationship quality in determining the occurrence and function of post-conflict interactions, and show that ravens may be sensitive to the emotions of others.