The Price of Power

A Baboon sits among his group in the Singapore Zoo-Photo by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen-Wikipedia Creative Commons

A recent study led by Princeton University suggest that life at the very top of the social hierachy system could be more difficult on all of the animal kingdom.

The study published in the July 15 issue of the journal of Science and entitled, "Life at the Top:  Rank and Stress in Wild Male Baboons, argues that in wild baboon populations the alpha, or top male experiences much higher stress than even the highly ranked males he rules over.

The study was conducted on 125 male baboons from five seperate social groups of completely untamed and wild baboons in the Ambseli Basin of Kenya over a period of nine years.  Behavioral data was pulled from nearly four decades.

Baboons, which live in highly complex societies much like humans were found to invoke extremely high stress levels on their given leader baboon.

Alpha males may suffer from stress from
the responsibility of protecting large
populations. Photo by Ian Restall

This study recorded the percentage of glucocorticoid, a stress hormone and testosterone found in the waste discharged from the baboon populations.  Alpha male baboons had higher levels of both hormones.

The study suggest that alpha males may have higher stress levels because of the energy they must exert in order to maintain their positions.  It may not necessarily be a phsycological stress as much as a stress caused from political competition, at least in the baboon community.

According to an interview conducted by Princton Universities website, Dr. Susan Alberts, a Duke University Professor and co-author of the study, stated that it's been well known for decades that alpha males hold a great advantage in terms of reproduction, but it's just now becoming clear that with that dominance comes some major challenges.

This could make the case that leaders througout all of the animal kingdom, including humans take on a great deal of stress that others cannot possibly understand.  Yes, positions of power have their benifits.  One in political office or positions of authority have the ability to command large numbers of people, make decisions that benifit themselves, and usually can afford the luxeries of life that others may not.  However, with those great perks comes great responsibilty.  Leaders must make crucial and sometimes difficult decisions that may or may not pay off, send young people into battles that they may never return from, and overcome character attacks from political rivals.  According to this study, being a leader comes with a steep price.

The authors of the study say that much more study is needed to determine if similiar conclusions can be applied to human populations and other animal groups.