Being top dog... the pros and cons (if you are a baboon, that is)!

Yesterday was the day of the dog; today is the day of the baboon -- specifically, the top of the heap No 1 alpha baboon versus the less domineering beta baboon, the No 2.

In an earlier posting, I referred to a study comparing bosses who value integrity versus bosses who want to be seen as powerful -- the classic "better to be loved or better to be feared" poser.

Well, another study -- as reported in the New York Times and Daily Telegraph -- now suggests that the stress levels of  alpha male baboons are typically high due to the effort of maintaining their lofty position rather than the weight of responsibility, compared to the beta male baboons in the troop; and that humans may want to make similar studies about human top honchos and less power-hungry leaders.

Princeton University evolutionary biologist Laurence Gesquiere and his colleagues studied five troops of wild baboons in Kenya over nine years. They found that the alpha males showed very high stress levels (to be fair, so did the lowest-ranking males!).

But it is the beta male, or No 2, in the baboon troop who has the best deal. Okay, as the NYT article depicts it, the term beta male has "become an almost derisive label for the nice guy, the good boy all grown up, the husband women look for after their fling with Russell Crowe".

Meanwhile, the top dog -- the top baboon here -- is all stressed out because of the demands of fighting off challengers and guarding access to fertile females. "Beta males, who fought less and had considerably less mate guarding to do, had much lower stress levels. They had fewer mating opportunities than the alphas, but they did get some mating in, more than any lower-ranking males. After all, when the alpha gets into another baboon bar fight, who’s going to take the girl home?" the NYT piece concluded. 

[The Princeton study was restricted to male baboons because, it was claimed, the female baboons had a different system of rank, which is inherited from the mother and rarely subject to challenge, so that is one kind of stress they do not have.]

And how did the researchers measure the baboon males' stress levels? They collected poo samples to measure levels of stress hormones called glucocorticoids. So you see, you are what you poo! 

One academic who was not part of the research team, found the paper exciting. It showed that “the males at the top are under a lot of stress, and there’s a cost”, he said. 

Moreover, being No 1 for a long time without the luxury of relaxing one's guard takes a heavier toll. Chronic long-term high levels of stress hormones can increase the risks of disease or worsen existing diseases.

Finally, while the researchers say the new study does not have a direct application to human health or social structure, they say it raises questions about possible unstudied costs of being at the top. They also suspect that the beta males have the best deal -- hanging around and doing “pretty well for a long time, rather than very well for a short time”.

Professor Jeanne Altmann, who runs the laboratory in Princeton, said: "Our results points to the need for research that will identify and evaluate the specific costs and benefits of various status positions, in various species, types of organisations and groups, and under different ecological conditions."