Is the Concept of Dominance Useful in Understanding Rodent Behaviour?

This article analyses if the concept of dominance is useful in understanding rodent behavior. As defined by van Kreveld, "Dominance is a priority of access to an approach situation or of leaving an avoidance situation that one individual has over another." This definition has the advantage that dominance can be measured by depriving a group of a resource and then observing which animal has priority of access when the resource is replaced. It should not be assumed that the term dominance will necessarily be the best label for the many ways in which winners and losers differ. The term dominance already has very wide connotations, which has led to the misleading use of competitive tasks.