canberrabirds

Intriguing semantics

To: "'martin butterfield'" <>, "'COG List'" <>
Subject: Intriguing semantics
From: "Shaun Bagley" <>
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2008 15:44:30 +1100

Martin,

 

I suspect the term agonistic refers to the aggressive display behaviour of males in tight quarters, since they seem to nest communally.  It’s not limited to display either. I saw the top nest birds (at Kelly’s) pinching sticks from the lower left nest twice in a few minutes!

 

Incidentally agonistic can also mean strained for the sake of effect which I suppose could apply equally to display!

 

Shaun

 

From: martin butterfield [
Sent: Friday, 26 December 2008 11:06 AM
To: COG List
Subject: [canberrabirds] Intriguing semantics

 

In looking through HANZAB to follow up some issues about the behaviour of the Kellys' Swamp spoonbills I was struck by the term "Agonistic Behaviour" since I have never come across the word 'agonistic' before.  As the prefix 'ant' could mean "opposite" as in antonym I assumed it meant the opposite of 'antagonistic' which would suggest something like cooperation.  However both the entries in HANZAB and the definitions in the Shorter and Concise Oxford Dictionaries the relevant definitions seemed to say both words meant 'competitive'. 

I have come across some defniitions from both pharmacology (one turns on a receptor, the other doesn't) and physiology (muscless which oppose each other can be referred to as agonist and antagonist) where the two words have different definitions implying some degree of oppositeness (if that is a word).  However I haven't been able to find such a pair of definitions relevant to behaviour and wonder if anyone on the list can explain why the competitive behaviour of birds is described as agonistic rather than antagonistic.

Martin

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