A recent study on baboons has found that life at the top isn’t easy. Male baboons fight tooth and nail to become alpha – this spot at the top of the social hierarchy is coveted because alpha males sire the most offspring, and therefore spread the most genes.
Researchers working with baboons in Amboseli, Kenya, were interested in looking at the costs of being alpha. By measuring specific hormones, they were able to show that alpha males face greater energetic challenges than lower-ranking males.
Digging into this further, the researchers asked what exactly is so energetically costly about being an alpha male. They thought that the two main tasks of being alpha – guarding females against the advances of other males, and fighting other males so they can maintain their position as alpha – would be equally taxing.
Surprisingly, they found that guarding females appeared to be much more energetically costly than maintaining the position of alpha.
This may be because, by the time males are alphas, they don’t have to do much fighting to stay at the top. With just a few subtle gestures (like a raised eyebrow and a yawn), they can warn off competing males.
On the other hand, guarding females from other males’ advances means staying on high alert, often being interrupted while feeding, and chasing males away – all of which are energetically taxing.
"Over time, the energetic demands of being alpha will have long-term consequences on their health,” Dr Laurence Gesquiere, lead author of the study, tells BBC Wildlife. "[This is because] alphas have less energy to invest in their body maintenance.”
By revealing the costs that males must pay to be alpha, this study helps us understand why it is that alpha male baboons – despite being in the position every male wants – age faster and die younger than their lower-ranking peers.
Main image: baboons/Elizabeth Archie
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