Are you challenging me or are you buffering me?

This article presents a study on captive red deer males to investigate the impact of social strategies on hormone levels and antler growth.

We tracked the inter-individual distances among 17 stags and observed their interactions to categorize them as either Associates (spending prolonged time together) or Non-Associates (avoiding close proximity but interacting when competing for food). The study applied concepts from the "social buffering" hypothesis, which suggests social connections reduce stress (indicated by lower cortisol), and the "Challenge hypothesis", which suggests that challenging interactions increase testosterone.

Results indicated that associating with others was linked to lower cortisol, while avoiding associates and engaging in challenges correlated with higher testosterone, and that larger antlers were associated with higher testosterone and thus potentially the "challenge" strategy".

Find more about this study here.