THE HUMAN CONDITION / WHY WE’RE TERRITORIAL : Get Out of My Space and Do It Now

Hello and welcome to another edition of “Mild Kingdom.” This week, we’ve taken our cameras out to capture one of the oddest and oldest rituals of the animal world: territoriality.

Here we see a dog claiming a fire hydrant. And here’s a cat rubbing its owner’s leg. Now let’s look at some footage of one of nature’s most aggressively proprietary creatures. . . .

We see it honking as someone gets into its lane. Now we see it scatter a pile of personal items on the next train seat. This beast has also been known to become enraged when its mate rolls over onto its sleeping space. Apparently, nothing is safe from this frighteningly possessive animal--the human.

Yes, the urge to mark territory is as much a part of human nature as the desire to gawk at traffic accidents.

Sometimes it’s easy to justify. Keeping your private property to yourself--whether it’s a home or a car or even a desk at work--can be necessary if you feel it is being threatened. The urge can be so intense, though, that it carries over into wanting to claim things we don’t even own.

Maybe it’s that empty seat next to you on the airplane. Or the traffic lane you’re trying to merge into. (Or, in extreme cases, the turf you want for your homies or the nation your nation is trying to conquer.)

Territoriality is not only about grabbing something that will set you apart from the crowd; it’s about our disdain of sharing--an act that just rankles our possessive nature.

“It’s very natural to do this,” explains psychologist Joyce Brothers. “You see it when somebody puts their feet up on a desk or a leg over a chair at a theater. Almost every organism somehow has to mark its territory. We’re forever playing these games.”

The winner always gets a prize, whether it’s space, security or status. Grabbing more public territory is a way to keep a comfortable distance between yourself and all the other possessive people.

That seat next to you on the plane is a perfect example. The space next to you is vacant, and you’ll do everything possible to keep it that way. Even though you know that somebody else paid for it, you adopt it.

“I see people parking their bags on the seat, hoping it might deter someone from sitting there,” says Brothers. “When that person comes, you pick up your stuff very reluctantly.”

It can ruin the whole flight. Maybe you’ll get locked into a battle over the armrest. Or, if you’ve got the window seat, the interloper may invade your turf by trying to look at the scenery. Worst of all, that person may even move into your space and make contact.

The same holds true at the movie theater, where it’s common to see people draping their feet over the seats in front of them. Like an explorer planting a flag in the New World, they’ve claimed this area for themselves. It doesn’t seem to matter that everybody paid the same price to get in and has equal access to every seat in the house.

“I remember seeing a woman sitting in the very center of a row, with one spare seat on each side,” says Jill Ann Womack, an advertising sales assistant. “A couple came by and asked her to move over so they could sit together, but she wouldn’t vacate the space.”

Keeping that breathing room between you and a dark room full of strangers can make you feel much more at ease. At the same time, keeping that distance can appease the bunker mentality that can get you fighting for even that tiny parcel of property.

“It’s like on a tour bus, where people take a seat when they first get on and it becomes theirs for the day,” says Brothers. “We need to establish that place for security, so we can defend that spot if we have to.”

Without this security, people can end up feeling lost. What was a familiar world is now something new and nerve-racking.

“When you go into a big lecture hall, you always end up sitting in the same place,” says Loyola law student Joanne Choi. “Then if you come in one day and don’t get your seat, you get tense. I swear I get lower grades on tests when I don’t get to sit in my regular seat.”

The security of your daily routine gets shattered by someone else who has every right to, say, take the unassigned parking space you generally use at work.

“Parking spaces are limited, and I don’t have my own spot at work, so it really sets me off if there’s a day when somebody has taken the place I usually take,” explains Roger Barton, a film editor.

“It bothers me enough to curse at someone. And there’s an order to these things, where I’m upset and have to find another place to park, which then upsets the person who is used to parking in the spot where I end up.”

Barton knows this is irrational behavior. Still, not getting something he’s accustomed to can ruin the first couple of hours at work.

“Maybe it’s because you see something you want and, once you see it, you expect to have it for yourself, whether it’s a good parking spot or a Nautilus machine at the gym,” Barton says.

Even your bed, the place where you should feel most secure, can be a battleground. Just imagine crawling under the covers only to find that your mate has fallen asleep on your side of the bed.

“I get real possessive about my side of the bed,” says Jamie Settle, a massage therapist in the Valley. “If I’m in bed and the other person rolls over onto my side, I put my knee out to protect it.”

This desire to get your personal space is more than just an issue of comfort, though. It’s a question of power. There’s no better status symbol than grabbing some else’s territory.

“I do feel something when I’m in my car,” says Los Angeles bankruptcy consultant Todd McCormick. “I find myself trying to protect that space in front of me. I don’t like people continually invading that territory.”

“You get the feeling that that lane of traffic you’re in is yours,” adds Barton. “Whenever you get to a stoplight, you see these people jockeying for the pole position. And it can be pretty damn irritating if somebody gets in front of you.”

If you allow drivers to get ahead of you, they might reach their destination first. Getting somewhere first means they win. Winning means status. It’s the same principle in grocery store lines.

“I hate it when I’ve been waiting a long time to check out and then they open up a new line, and people who just got in line behind me are able to leave quicker than I can,” says Barton.

Fashion sense is another example. Clothing stores always have plenty of identical outfits in every style, but what happens if two people who bought the same thing appear together at the same time?

“I get real bummed out if I go to the beach and I see somebody else wearing the same bathing suit I just bought,” says UCLA student Marlien Rentmeester. “You lose your individuality, your territory.”

Territory can also be as big as the place you live. Rentmeester, who grew up in New York City, gets very protective about Westhampton.

“It used to be an escape from the city, but now all the tourists come and act like they own the town. Inside I get very angry. I just act rude and put on an attitude. I always felt that was my place.”