ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the concept of human-initiated animal fights, and presents four case studies of such fights between pairs of animals of the same species: dog-to-dog, camel-to-camel, buffalo-to-buffalo and cock-to-cock. It examines the basic common traits of those fights and their historical decline from a high-class entertainment to a preoccupation of lower class or marginal groups, in which the animals serve as surrogates for their owners, bringing them honor in victory and shame in defeat. Though widely condemned for their gruesomeness, and widely outlawed, animal fights are still surreptitiously practised in some countries and in a few celebrated as a popular tradition.
