In this riveting read packed with great photographs, Chris Baranuik first helps us understand why despotism & tyranny flourishes in many parts of the animal kingdom and then zeroes in on those species who live in a more fraternal way. Mr Baranuik then produces takeaways for us humans who tend to oscillate between tolerating despots and seeking a more egalitarian world. Mr Baranuik writes:
“Despotism is a feature of many animal societies, not just mice. Baboons, banded mongooses and naked mole rats are just some of those known to have what ecologists call “dominance hierarchies”, or pecking orders, at the top of which sits an individual or individuals who rule with an iron fist. They get the most food. The best sexual partners. And their behaviour ultimately steers the entire group in one direction or another….
…some animal species are famously despotic. Take chacma baboons, which live in southern Africa. A well-known 2008 study showed that despots typically ruled these baboon societies, and this played out, for example, when the monkeys went looking for food. “Group foraging decisions were consistently led by the individual who acquired the greatest benefits from those decisions, namely the dominant male,” the researchers noted.”
We then learn from Mr Baranuik that in many animal societies the despots are the females and they can be just as brutal as male despots elsewhere:
“Some females at the top of certain animal societies are decidedly brutal. Naked mole rats live underground where they dig tunnels using their huge front teeth, as they search for plant tubers, which they feed on. Naked mole rat societies have queens, the only females who reproduce, and they assert their dominance by “aggressive pushing, tail-tugging and shoving behaviours”.
Breaking off from the group would be risky. “Nobody knows where the next load [of tubers] will be,” says Laura Betzig, an independent anthropologist who has studied despotism in animal as well as human societies. “They stick around and put up with awful despots.”
Betzig also cites ant workers that eat eggs laid by females other than the queen. “She uses an army of physical workers, a police force, to destroy the eggs,” says Betzig. This is one way a leader can eliminate would-be rivals.”
Then Mr Baranuik informs us that NOT all animal societies are dominated by despots: “…in some cases, circumstances can lead to the removal of aggressive leaders. And some animal societies that work together appear able to evade despotism.
The northern muriqui, a famously peaceful monkey species in Brazil, for example, maintains a gentle, egalitarian society. Animals’ genetics as well as their environments may determine how despotic – or not – they are…..
Tree-dwelling northern muriquis live in egalitarian groups famous for their civility. There are no despots here. Some people refer to the muriqui as “the hippie monkey” – a slightly sensationalising term that nonetheless captures their “relaxed” lifestyle, says Karen Strier, a primatologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US, who has studied muriquis for decades. She mentions, for example, that the monkeys are, sexually speaking, very laid back. “Females mate with multiple males in close succession,” she says.
But there’s more. Muriquis seldom get into fights and they share resources fairly. Strier explains that, if two of the monkeys find food or a drinking spot at roughly the same time, the first to arrive will take what it needs while the other waits patiently for its turn. “The pattern in these muriquis is patience and tolerance,” she says. The muriquis even seem to hug more often than display any kind of aggressive behaviour, she adds…
For the muriquis, Strier suggests it might have to do with the fact that males and females are very similar in size and body shape. This makes it harder for one male individual, for example, to dominate over the females. But ultimately it may simply be that, for various reasons, despotism doesn’t have enough benefits for muriqui individuals. “There may be reasons why aggression doesn’t work,” says Strier. It comes down to a question of what sort of behaviour society, and its environment, rewards.”
Even more fascinatingly, we hear about animal clans who toggle between despotism to egalitarianism. Mr Baranuik writes: “A well-known 2008 study showed that despots typically ruled these baboon societies, and this played out, for example, when the monkeys went looking for food. “Group foraging decisions were consistently led by the individual who acquired the greatest benefits from those decisions, namely the dominant male,” the researchers noted.
Behavioural ecologist Élise Huchard, director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, was one of the co-authors on that paper… Huchard says that some animal societies are more despotic than others but why this is the case remains the subject of research. Despotism might emerge due to a mix of genetic and learned behaviours. She refers to a famous study, published in 2004, which reported an extraordinary chain of events among olive baboons.
In the mid-1980s, an outbreak of tuberculosis among these baboons resulted in the deaths of many males in the group – and it so happened that most of the deaths were among the more aggressive males. Relatively peaceful males took over, who were noticeably less aggressive than their predecessors. This more friendly, or affiliative, behaviour between males and females suggested a “relaxed” dominance hierarchy had emerged. The really surprising thing is that this less aggressive society endured for many years, persisting across multiple subsequent generations.
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