Exploring the myth of alpha males in primate behaviour

OBSERVATIONS of “alpha male” behaviour among apes — including some of humans’ closest relatives in the animal kingdom - have helped shape the archetype of the dominant male into a controversial touchstone of modern culture.

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But a sweeping analysis of power dynamics between male and female primates confirms that the alpha male is relatively rare among 121 primate species, finding that sex-based hierarchies across the vast order are more fluid - and successfully contested more frequently — than was historically assumed.

The study’s authors say their research could pave the way to a deeper understanding into one of science’s murkiest questions: the origins of power inequalities between men and women.

“Male dominance is not a baseline, as was implicitly thought for a long time in primatology,” said Élise Huchard, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Montpellier who co-wrote the study.

In a phone interview, she said that her research found there was far more flexibility in power dynamics between male and female primates than previously envisioned and that it raises questions over the extent to which modern inequities between men and women can be traced to humanity's primate legacy.

The peer-reviewed paper, published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reviewed quantitative data from 253 studies on contested interactions between male and female primates from 121 species. The contested interactions included anything from acts of physical aggression to ritualised signals indicating submission.

The scientists recorded which sex “won” each interaction and then analyzed the data to compare the results between different species and populations of primates.