Life at the top ain’t easy.

What’s the News: In the hardscrabble world of a baboon troop, being the alpha male has its perks: power, food, ample opportunities to woo the ladies. But all that status brings with it a great deal of stress, a new study shows, as the alpha male constantly scrambles to stay atop the social pyramid. The life of a second-in-command beta male—somewhat fewer perks but, the researchers found, a whole lot less stress—is starting to sound like the better deal.

How the Heck:

The researchers gathered samples of feces from 125 adult male baboons in Amboseli, Kenya, collecting more than 4,500 samples over nine years. They then measured the level of glucocorticoids—hormones that play a major role in the body’s stress response—in each sample to determine the baboons’ stress levels.
Alpha males’ stress levels, the samples showed, were high—as high as those of low-ranking males, who are constantly being bullied and deprived of access to food and mates. The alpha males do more than their share of fighting and mating, the scientists found; defending themselves and keeping others away from potential mates likely account for much of the added stress ...