London, Dec 22 (IANS) Winning fights seems to drive greater aggression, thanks to a bio-chemical mechanism.
Paul Stevenson of the University of Leipzig and his team staged ‘tournaments’ among crickets to investigate the source of heightened aggression, called the ‘winner effect’, and the potential role of different treatments in curbing it.
They found that aggression levels returned to normal by about 20 minutes post-fight among crickets, the journal Public Library of Science ONE reports.
They also found that treating the crickets with a chemical called epinastine, which interferes with the insect equivalent of the adrenaline pathway, abolished the winner effect, suggesting that this adrenaline-like system is involved in aggression increase, according to a Leipzig statement.
