Abstract

Conflicts are costly because they can damage social relationships. To buffer conflicts, various species use post-conflict behaviour, such as reconciliation or third-party affiliation. Both behaviours have predominantly been studied in non-human primates. However, recently, studies revealed post-conflict behaviour in other mammalian and some bird species (e.g., corvids). While third-party affiliation has been reported in several corvid species, reconciliation has only rarely been observed. The social structure of the studied groups has been postulated as a reason for the absence of reconciliation. Here, we investigated whether post-conflict behaviours in corvids indeed mirror the relationship structure. We studied the behaviour of a newly established group of juvenile carrion crows (Corvus corone corone), where pair bonds had not yet been established. We applied a combination of observations and food monopolisation experiments to quantify the use of post-conflict behaviours. Provisioning food in one or two pieces induced different patterns of aggression during feeding and differently affected the affiliation patterns after feeding. Specifically, victims of severe aggression affiliated with third parties after conflicts in the two-piece condition, while aggressors affiliated with victims of mild aggression in the one-piece condition. We thus provide the first evidence that a corvid species, crows, flexibly engage in both third-party affiliation and reconciliation.