What
comes to your
mind when you hear the word
dominance
? You may think of
a group of confident athletes
and chee r l eade r s , o r t ha t
one person in your class who
frequently answers questions in
class. The phenomenon of social
dominance is not only seen in
humans, but also exists in the
animal kingdom – especially in
our closest living relatives, the
chimpanzee.
Ch impanzees are one of
two extant great apes l iving
in the forest of Central Africa
(the other being gorillas). They
travel in small groups of up to
ten i nd i v idua l s to forage or
hunt. The memberships of these
small groups are often dynamic,
where chimps regularly split with
current groups and merge with
new groups. Sometimes, these
small groups join together in
a large gathering when food
i s abundant o r to i nc rease
chances of mating.
But similar to human groups,
a lack of a clear shot-caller or
leader could potentially signify
chaos. Social hierarchy exists
in chimpanzee communities,
dictating the quality of life, such
as who gets to eat the most
Patience
is a
Virtue
fruits or to mate with the highest-
ranking females [1].
W i t h i n t h i s commu n i t y,
studies have shown that male
chimpanzees are dominant to all
females, with one male reigning
at the top. This dominant male
is called the
alpha
– and he is
usually the fittest and the most
aggressive in a group. Other
than brute force, the ranking
system also appears to follow
the age of the chimps; ranking
increases with age and peaks
at around 20 years old, before
seeing a decline as the chimp
ages [1].
T h e s o c i a l s y s t e m o f
ch impan zees i s s t ud i ed by
scr ut i n i s i ng the i r behav i ou r
during their interaction with one
another. To determine the social
ranking of each chimp, scientists
observed their communication
th rough a s igna l ca l l ed the
“pant-grunt” – performed by one
chimp to another in a display of
submission. The researchers then
noted who submits to whom, and
eventually plotted a hierarchy in
the community of chimps [2].
T h o u g h , l i v i n g i n t h i s
seemingly orderly community is
not as harmonious as it appears.
By Rinaldi Gotama
李嘉德
References
參考資料
[1] Sarusi, D. Chimpanzee Behaviour. Retrieved from
/
[2] Russ, J. Female Chimpanzees Wait Until Death of Higher Rank Apes to Move Up in Social Hierarchy.
ITech Post
(2016). Retrieved from
-
[3] Manke, K. Female Chimpanzees Don’t Fight for “Queen Bee” Status.
Duke Today
(2016). Retrieved
/
Male chimps fight each other
constantly for the highly coveted
alpha
status to gain access to
more food and better chances
to sire an offspring. Even though
fema l es a l so exh i b i t s imi l a r
hierarchical status within the
community, their rankings were
les s promi nent as they have
fewer interactions between them
in comparison to male chimps
[2]. Studies show that rather than
fighting, female chimps prefer to
“wait in queue” until one dies or
leaves the group [3].
Such seemingly “passive
aggressive” behaviour could
be beneficial to the females.
Compared to males, female
ch impanzees seem to have
adopted a long-term strategy
for survival. If a male wants to
sire an offspring, he can mate
with multiple females in a short
per iod of time. For a female
however, she can only raise one
young chimpanzee at a time –
thus her reproductive success
depends heavily on how long
she can survive [3]. For female
chimps, good things come to
those that wait. As they avoid
chal lenging each other in a
series of potentially-tumultuous
fights, they also avoid dangerous
situations and threats to their
survival.
