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Thursday, February 3, 2011

How a troupe of baboons faired after all of th alpha males died.

You should read this about a the discovery a biologist made while researching  Baboons who faired well after the Alpha males died.
You can also listen to an audio version on Radiolab.com  narated by Robert Krowlwich of NPR




I got an email last night from a former student (thanks Hendrick!) who wanted to let me know that Stanford's Robert Sapolsky had done a WNYC radio show called "New Normal?" (listen here) where he described his 2004 article with Lisa Share on a troop of baboons -- which became more peaceful (or at least less nasty) after the alpha males died. It is amazing stuff, and more evidence that being a jerk and having power go hand in hand. Here is a link to the original academic article (which I was able to download for free). It is short and quite accessible, and just astounding stuff: Here is how I described it in The No Asshole Rule:
via This Link bobsutton.typepad.com


comment by James Lico
In our society the alpha males would be akin to conservatives and you can vote them out of office.  This is a perfect example of the "no asshole rule at work"


You can also listen to an audio version on Radiolab.com  narated by Robert Krowlwich of NPR .





(Hugo!/flickr)HJohn Horgan examines how Americans seem to have a completely different attitude toward war than we did thirty years ago. He takes us on a stroll through Hoboken, asking strangers one of the great unanswerable questions: "Will humans ever stop fighting wars?" Strangely, everyone seems to know the answer. Robert Sapolsky brings us farther afield - to eastern Africa, where a population of baboons defies his expectations of violent behavior. Robert is surprised to feel hopeful for a gentler future, but then primatologistRichard Wrangham asserts that their aggressive nature is innate, unchanging, and hanging over them like a guillotine.

2 comments:

  1. Go to Radiolab.org to listen to this and other articles you will not here anywhere else.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Alpha males in our society are conservatives. You can vote them out of office and thrive.!

    ReplyDelete