Social orders exist throughout the animal kingdom. Comprised of dominant and subordinate individuals, these orders dictate how members of a group interact, influencing everything from food access to mating privileges.
Sometimes, the behavior of the dominant individual is more extreme, and the “alpha” actively inhibits interactions between other members of the group. This sort of “monarchistic dominance” has been reported in male laboratory mice and African lions. The behavior is not restricted to mammals, however.
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