Chimps Are Born Politicians

Humans are not the only political animals. Mark Foster, an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota, discovered that while big, aggressive males rely on physical force to dominate, smaller and more mild-mannered chimps use politics to gain higher social standings:

The finding was gleaned from 10 years of observing dominant male chimpanzees in Gombe National Park, Tanzania, looking at behaviors they used to compete for alpha male status relative to their size.

Analysis showed that larger males relied more on physical attacks to dominate while smaller, gentler males groomed other chimpanzees, both male and female, to gain broad support.

Link – via reddit

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by noface.