We often admire the alpha males of the world – think of a lion ruling his pride, a CEO commanding a boardroom, or a wolf leading his pack. These males have dominance, respect, and the first pick of resources. But what if being on top wasn’t as great as it seemed? For alpha baboons, the price of power is steep.
A new study shows that alpha male baboons live under intense stress. Surprisingly, their stress doesn’t come from fighting rivals but from guarding their mates.
Becoming an alpha male baboon is no easy feat. Males must battle their way up the ranks – relying on strength, strategy, and persistence. But reaching the top is only the beginning. Staying there demands constant vigilance.
The dominant male must protect his status against challengers, ensuring that no rival steals his position. But his biggest concern is not other males – it is the females.
During fertile periods, he must closely monitor them and prevent other males from mating with them. This requires following the females around for days on end, ensuring that he remains their only mate.
“They’re essentially staking a claim; preventing other males from gaining access,” said Professor Susan Alberts of Duke University.
This near-constant surveillance takes a toll. Instead of using their time to rest, eat, or socialize, alpha males devote their energy to guarding their mates. Over time, this effort drains them both physically and mentally.
For decades, scientists have studied wild baboons in Kenya as part of the Amboseli Baboon Research Project. Since 1971, researchers have closely tracked the social interactions and behaviors of these animals, collecting valuable data about their lives.
A study published in 2011 provided one of the first clues that being an alpha male comes with a cost. The research, led by senior scientist Laurence Gesquiere at Duke University, found that alpha males had significantly higher levels of glucocorticoids – hormones linked to stress and the “fight-or-flight” response.
“In humans, this response is activated for every kind of challenge we face, whether it’s running down the block because you’re late for a meeting, running a marathon, or going into a stressful meeting with your boss,” Alberts explained.
The new study builds on these findings. The research team analyzed 14 years of behavioral data from 204 male baboons and measured their stress hormone levels using droppings left behind in the wild.
The results confirmed that life at the top is stressful. Alpha males had 6% higher glucocorticoid levels than lower-ranking males.
But the study also revealed something unexpected: aggressive behaviors such as fighting, bullying, or threatening rivals had no impact on the stress levels of alpha male baboons. “That was a big surprise!” Gesquiere exclaimed.
The researchers had expected that constant battles with other males would be the main cause of stress. Instead, they found that stress hormones spiked when alpha males spent more time guarding females.
Their thyroid hormone levels also dropped, indicating they were burning more calories than they consumed. This suggested that being an alpha male is not just stressful – it is physically exhausting as well.
“Being alpha really has energy consequences,” Gesquiere noted. Unlike lower-ranking males, who can focus on feeding and resting, alpha males are constantly on alert, even when they attempt to eat.
“They’re constantly interrupted,” Alberts said. “They’ll start to dig up or pry open a tasty morsel, but then the female gets up and walks away, and they have to abandon it.”
The constant stress of being an alpha male baboon appears to have lasting effects. Previous research on Amboseli baboons found that top-ranking males age faster and have shorter lifespans than their lower-ranking counterparts.
Chemical changes in their DNA suggest that stress accelerates aging, and weakens their bodies over time. Once they lose their alpha status, they may struggle to recover from years of physical and emotional strain.
While baboon society is different from human society, some parallels exist. Alpha males live in a rigid hierarchy, but humans navigate multiple social structures. A person may be a low-ranking employee at work but a leader in their sports team or community.
Still, the study on alpha male baboons highlights an important lesson: leadership comes with challenges, and constant stress can take a toll on well-being. In humans and baboons alike, maintaining power requires energy, focus, and sacrifice.
For dominant male baboons, the cost of being on top is clear. “Stress definitely has long-term consequences,” noted Gesquiere.
The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
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