Social bonds aid female domination
Within spotted hyena society, it’s the females who wear the proverbial trousers. But new research suggests that their dominance over males has more to do with their social connections than their physical attributes.
Female hyenas are as big, if not slightly bigger, than males. Famously, they also possess male-like genitals – an erectile ‘pseudo-penis’, through which they copulate and give birth, and which they wield in displays of dominance.
But new analysis of 4,133 tussles between spotted hyenas in Tanzania shows that they are won not by the biggest, strongest or most aggressive animals, but by those who can call on the most friends for assistance.
Unlike the males, who join new clans as they mature, the females generally remain with the clan they are born into. This advantage allows females to develop social bonds and rise to the top of the clan hierarchy. “It’s all about assertiveness and how confident a hyena is of receiving support, if needed,” says Colin Vullioud of Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin.
The pseudo-penis gives females control of mate choice by making copulation impossible unless she is fully cooperative, and has an “indirect influence” on female dominance, says Vullioud’s colleague Oliver Höner. “This is the main cause for males to leave their natal clan.” Stuart Blackman
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