Macaques at Japan reserve get first alpha female in 70-year history
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Re: Macaques at Japan reserve get first alpha female in 70-year history
#2This is all the more impressive because macaques generally display strong sexual dimorphism in size (males are ~45% bigger on average than females, vs. more like ~15% in humans). I wonder how big Yakei is.
Re: Macaques at Japan reserve get first alpha female in 70-year history
#3This is all the more impressive because macaques generally display strong sexual dimorphism in size (males are ~45% bigger on average than females, vs. more like ~15% in humans). I wonder how big Yakei is.
I think the article said she’s 10kg but it didn’t say the size of the former alpha male. I wish they had mentioned the size difference for comparison, that’s interesting!
Re: Macaques at Japan reserve get first alpha female in 70-year history
#4[deleted]
Re: Macaques at Japan reserve get first alpha female in 70-year history
#5This is all the more impressive because macaques generally display strong sexual dimorphism in size (males are ~45% bigger on average than females, vs. more like ~15% in humans). I wonder how big Yakei is.
I think the article said she’s 10kg but it didn’t say the size of the former alpha male. I wish they had mentioned the size difference for comparison, that’s interesting!
Well it does say that she roughed up the previous alpha male, so presumably she's at least similar in size/strength.
Re: Macaques at Japan reserve get first alpha female in 70-year history
#6This is all the more impressive because macaques generally display strong sexual dimorphism in size (males are ~45% bigger on average than females, vs. more like ~15% in humans). I wonder how big Yakei is.
I think the article said she’s 10kg but it didn’t say the size of the former alpha male. I wish they had mentioned the size difference for comparison, that’s interesting!
Oh wow I missed that, thanks for catching. Given these are Japanese macaques, it looks like typical m/f size difference is more like ~32%, not ~45%, and 10kg puts her larger than the average female, but smaller than the average male. Would be interested in the former alpha males size too, but it's probably safe to assume he was bigger!
Re: Macaques at Japan reserve get first alpha female in 70-year history
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the article said she’s 10kg but it didn’t say the size of the former alpha male. I wish they had mentioned the size difference for comparison, that’s interesting!
Well it does say that she roughed up the previous alpha male, so presumably she's at least similar in size/strength.
She's also 22 years younger than him.
Re: Macaques at Japan reserve get first alpha female in 70-year history
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well it does say that she roughed up the previous alpha male, so presumably she's at least similar in size/strength.
She's also 22 years younger than him.
You inspired me to the lifespan of Japanese macaques, and it is 27 years; the previous alpha male was 31 years old, which suggests to me that he must have been pretty over the hill.
Given that she is smaller than the average male macaque, I imagine that this is not a terribly stable situation.
Re: Macaques at Japan reserve get first alpha female in 70-year history
#9This is awesome. To get the top job, she: beat up her own mother; then took on the existing alpha 4x her age, and probably larger; then in the next 'peanut session' he had to backdown and let her eat first; and now she walks with an erect tail and goes and shakes trees for fun--It expresses her power. How cool is that!
It just goes to show, it's never about gender, just about choices, ambition and how brave you choose to be. Fuck yeah!
I wonder if the social dynamics will change under a (nominally?) female leader?
Re: Macaques at Japan reserve get first alpha female in 70-year history
#10Interesting that she's "walking the walk" in terms of dominance behaviors too. It would be fascinating to study whether she underwent significant hormonal changes after taking leadership or whether she had a different hormonal makeup compared to the average female "follower" even prior to her takeover.