It’s not just physical combat—animals have a host of strategies for building clout
Power in nonhuman animals used to play out in such a tidy and simple way. Bigger, stronger animals beat up smaller, weaker ones. The vanquished slunk away, and the victor claimed the prize. Or so we thought.
The strategic aspects of power in animals are mind-boggling. We biologists used to think animals were like simple robots that responded to fixed algorithms determined solely by their genes. During the breeding season, male stickleback fish become intensively territorial and take on a bright red coloration on their underside that attracts females.
In an ingenious experiment involving one-way mirrors, Earley discovered that swordtail spies avoid interacting with the winner of a contest they have watched. When it comes to interacting with males they’ve seen lose, the fish follow an intriguing rule: if a loser puts up relatively little resistance, go after him; but if he has moxie and puts up the good fight before eventually capitulating, stay the hell away from him.
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