Social pecking order gives roosters something to crow about

Highest ranking bird first to cock-a-doodle-doo at dawn

rooster crowing

Crowing first at dawn could be the privilege of rank in the pecking order of the rooster world.

John Schneider/Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)

In a rooster-peck-rooster world, rank has its privileges. The male at the peak of the pecking order almost always crows first in the morning, researchers say.