Pademelons live in loose groups with an established dominance hierarchy. Usually there is very little aggression between them, as individuals know to keep their distance from each other, especially from the dominant male, and a short grunt is all that’s necessary. That changes when a male becomes as big as “the boss” and challenges him.

At the moment, our second in command, “Niko” is having repeated fights with “Nr 3”, who is the dominant male. As they are both of fairly equal strength and size, those fights are sometimes lasting 20 minutes, and are quite fierce. Both males try to grab the other’s ears, scratch his face and kick him in the belly. Nr 3’s left eye was swollen for a few days and Niko  ended up with a bloody belly in his last fight.

These are portraits from last year. “Nr 3”, now has a new slit in his ear

Even Nr 3 in the hierarchy, “Scruffy” had a go, after which he was so exhausted that he lay down on his side for a while.