The dominance of males between primates is not at all obvious

For a long time we thought that the power, between primates, was unbalanced in favor of males, and that the societies in which the females are to command were an exception. An analysis of conflicts in over a hundred different species of primates shows that we were wrong: the skirmishes between the two sexes in primates are much more frequent than you thought.

Also, in case of conflict It is not at all obvious that the males have the bestand the factors that lead females to prevail have little to do with brute force. The research was published in the magazine Pnas.

A group of scientists from the Universities of Montpellier (France), of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology of Leipzig and the German Primate Center of Göttingen analyzed 253 detailed observations of conflicts between 121 different species of primates to understand why and how they vary the balance of power between males and females in this animal group.

And here the first surprises emerged. To begin with, Almost half of the aggressive interactions saw a male and female face himself: When a dispute breaks out, it is therefore almost equally likely to happen with an individual of the opposite sex than with one of the same sex. Yet past research tended to focus mainly on battles between males only or between females only, perhaps due to the belief that males and females competed for different resources.

But who has the best, in these conflicts? Here too, the analysis revealed a more complex situation than the world dominated by Alfa males that we imagined, in which the few records of primates led by females (such as those of the Bonobo and the rings with rings) are the exception.

“Recent research has started to question the traditional vision that sees the default status in the male dominance, and our study provides an even more complete investigation of how intersex dominance relationships vary”, explains Peter Kappeler of the German Primate Center.

The companies in which males prevailed (i.e. in more than 90% of cases) were only 25 on 151 observed. Those in which the females dominate, 16 out of 151. In the remaining of the cases, that is In 70% of the populations studied, power is not detained by either of the two sexes in particularor is only moderately in the hands of one or the other.

The populations in which power is unbalanced in favor of females are the monogamous ones, in which males and females have similar dimensions or in which the search for food takes place mainly on trees. These are all situations in which females They have more choice of choice on the partner With which to mate, and in which they are able to procure food on their own.

Other situations that make the scales hang towards females hang are those in which they must compete with each other for resources or in which conflicts against males risk less than endangering the little ones – for example, because mothers do not bring them with them when they go hunting for food.

In the populations where males are larger than females, they mate with more females or in which hunting takes place purely on the ground it is easier for power to be in their favor.

Research could suggest some reflections on human social dynamics. The fact that most of the record populations do not have clear divisions of power between sexes questioned the visions of the patriarchate who seek legitimacy in the “natural” worldbecause – in fact – in nature there is nothing clear and defined, but relationships occur with all their load of shades. In addition, for its characteristics, man gets more approaching species of records in which individuals of both sexes can become dominant.