Life at the top: rank and stress in wild male baboons.
Journal Article (Journal Article)
In social hierarchies, dominant individuals experience reproductive and health benefits, but the costs of social dominance remain a topic of debate. Prevailing hypotheses predict that higher-ranking males experience higher testosterone and glucocorticoid (stress hormone) levels than lower-ranking males when hierarchies are unstable but not otherwise. In this long-term study of rank-related stress in a natural population of savannah baboons (Papio cynocephalus), high-ranking males had higher testosterone and lower glucocorticoid levels than other males, regardless of hierarchy stability. The singular exception was for the highest-ranking (alpha) males, who exhibited both high testosterone and high glucocorticoid levels. In particular, alpha males exhibited much higher stress hormone levels than second-ranking (beta) males, suggesting that being at the very top may be more costly than previously thought.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Gesquiere, LR; Learn, NH; Simao, MCM; Onyango, PO; Alberts, SC; Altmann, J
Published Date
- July 2011
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 333 / 6040
Start / End Page
- 357 - 360
PubMed ID
- 21764751
Pubmed Central ID
- PMC3433837
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1095-9203
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 0036-8075
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1126/science.1207120
Language
- eng