Beta Mandrills Physically Change to Become Alphas
Most of us have some passing familiarity with alphas in animal society. The "top" animal in a hierarchy, or boss in human terms, is an alpha. We've largely incorporated the term negatively into human civilization. Most people believe an alpha guy to be a bully. And being an alpha involves much more than just being the loudest or toughest.
First of all, an alpha wolf does not exist. That doesn't occur in nature, and our understanding of how wolf societies operate was based on studies of wolves kept in captivity. However, certain species do have dominant individuals, and mandrill baboons are one of these.
It is impossible to overstate how different an alpha male and a beta male are from one another, and no situation makes this contrast more obvious than when a beta male defeats an alpha. When alpha rank is attained, a beta male experiences physical changes that can be seen.
The beta male becomes an alpha just by winning a fight. An increase in testosterone production is one aspect of this. In order to draw the attention of more women, his testicles enlarge and their faces and genitalia become more sexually colored in red.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorhini
Infraorder: Simiiformes
Family: Cercopithecidae
Genus: Mandrillus
Species: M. sphinx
