Carlos tells us that the story of the gallinules begins peacefully when parents were feeding and teaching the chicks to eat (the one of the photo above) at the Brasil Access. I was leaving when I saw a spot-flanked gallinule coming along the promenade and began to fight one of the parents. At the beginning I thought these were domestic problems but the aggression escalated and they engaged fiercely as if they had something to deal with. It clearly seemed a dispute between the males over a territory or women. At first it seemed a cockfight. At a point the female took part and the final battle continued on the aquatic vegetation for almost 5 to 10 minutes. It ended with a short run to the left and with the chicks' father as the winner Since the bills are not very prominent they use the legs for fighting. With the wings anchored on the ground they kick the opponent