Macaques decide through democracy, not dictatorship

[dynomatson]

any research in captivity is weak at best. macaques in the wild range over large territories (upto 2km) and build large groups, over time, usually with the majority being females and atleast one alpha male and some subordinate males (usually young). it's pretty hard to replicate the nautral conditions for troop monkeys in captivity. actually, its impossible. the only thing zoos teach us is how to exploit animals.

[swyft187]

group-think

[konikula]

perdona: "-cracies" not "-craries"

[konikula]

I doubt there is option to use concept of "leading" or "leadership" at least in current way. In fact there is not focus on "who to believe" or "who knows better", as it would be in -craries and -isms, but we should rather search parallel to bird / fish flocks and its order. There is primarily some unique tactic in whole group movement, individuals don't have any "leadership" or another "statuses".

[Richardgwm]

Chimps don't believe in democracy. Just look at George Bush.

[Infinitesimalism]

Actually, Chimp is a little understated, because Bush is Spineless and Brainless so obviously he's a Jellyfish.

[D4Shawn]

I think it's a little silly to draw political parallels between humans and other primates/animals. Whatever "government"/social organization could be said to exist amongst animals would be based upon free association whereas humans are universally subjected to coercive governments based on forced association. Voluntary "democracy" and coercive (political) democracy are as different as sex and rape are different. Animals don't have dictators because they don't have guns/governments.

[mallamoozoo]

very well said

and anyway - the monkey wasn't asking for concensus - he was scared to go alone and looking for help - just herd instict - nothing to do with consensus (although maybe thats all consensus really is?)

A bit confusing really.

[CEDRICSUEUR]

Yes they are scare to be alone, because living in groups allows to decrease predation risk and to enhance food avalability. However in a group, individuals have not the same needs and the same motivations: certains want to drink, others to rest or to forage and forage different kinds of fruits. However they have to decide together about the time and the direction to move and make consensus in order to keep the advantages of living in group.

[ccskate]

id rather the monkey than bush

[poxart]

interesting

[grandexandi]

i don't think that's what you could call democracy... ¬¬

[tardesnegras]

it would be funny if they were taking votes and majority ruled.

[BeondaPale]

The music at the end of these videos MUST GO!!

[rsdgvv]

FREEDOM!

[k6996]

wow. monkey makes great leader

[lazymornings]

I love ny monkey dna,i'm cool.

[PhyA52]

i think that they should be more specific by what they mean by "leader".

[CEDRICSUEUR]

Yes, it is a good question. The term leader is a little confused in Science. Here, I think that they would say that all individuals are leaders because all individuals can take part to the decision to move.

[ZeroM80]

cool