Crouch

Overview and Meaning

Crouch is a form of defensive behavior that is performed to protect the animal from threat or aggressive behaviors.

This behavior is defined as the animal lying still in a rigid position with its ears down and its eyes closed or nearly closed.

Agonistic interactions can occur in the context of territorial behavior, and/or dominance behavior. Territorial behavior and dominance behavior differ in both the context that they occur, the resources under competition, and the threat behavior that initiates the interaction.