Male spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) queue for status in social groups dominated by females

Abstract

A long-term study of immigrant male spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) living in large multimale/multifemale groups (clans) demonstrated that males acquire social status by queuing. Maximum likelihood estimates of parameters of a stochastic queuing model that assessed queuing discipline confirmed that immigrant males respected the convention that their positions in a queue of typically 15 or more individuals was determined by their sequence of arrival. Levels of aggression among males were low; males did not attempt to improve their social status through physical contests. Size and body mass did not influence male social status. The stability of queues was insured by an increase in the rate at which males formed coalitions against other males as they rose in social status and by coalitions between high-ranked males and dominant females. High-ranked, long-tenured males chiefly consorted with (“shadowed”) and focused their affiliative behavior on females of high reproductive value and disrupted attempts by subordinate males to associate with these females. High-ranked males also supported females against lower-ranked males that harassed them. In contrast, lower-ranked, short-tenured males focused their affiliative behavior on young adult females and rarely shadowed or defended females. Males that did not disperse from their natal clan (nondispersers) quickly acquired top rank in the male social hierarchy. Irrespective of the social status acquired from their mother when young, nondisperser adult males submitted to all adult females.