Sisters doing it for themselves

ACCORDING to the cynics, it’s not what you know but who you know, which matters in life. This could hardly be true of the animal world, or could it? Surely, health and strength are the crucial factors in staying alive and reproducing successfully.

Not necessarily, it seems. The ‘survival of the fittest’ rule doesn’t always apply. According to a paper in the August issue of Animal Behaviour, having high status relatives is more important than natural talent for success in life if you are a baboon.

These large monkeys live in Africa and Arabia. There are five species. All have doggy-like snouts, close-set eyes and long limbs. Like our ancient ancestors, baboons are ‘squat-feeders’; hairless pads on their bottoms enable them to sit comfortably on the ground. Almost bipedal, they use their hands to forage for creepy-crawlies, the main stay of their diet. Troops have a complex social hierarchy.