Elections come with their own tension and anticipation, and the way a leader is chosen shapes a whole society. Animals that live in cooperative groups usually have a single leader too, and different species choose that leader in very different ways; in some cases, the leader chooses itself.
Animals do not queue to vote or use machines as we do, but they do make collective decisions that shape their daily lives. From elephants to bees, each has its own way of running its society, and some studies have found voting systems that look surprisingly like ours. Here is a look at how different animals choose their leaders.
Majority wins
One of the clearest examples of democracy is found among bees. A hive has three kinds of bee: the queen, the workers and the drones. The workers are all female and collect pollen, feed the hive and defend it, while the drones are males whose only role is to mate with the queen.
The queen lays two kinds of egg: fertilised eggs that become female workers or queens, and unfertilised eggs that become male drones. When the queen is injured, rejected or near death, and the bees notice her egg-laying slowing, they set about raising a new queen.
To choose her, the workers pick fertilised eggs at random and feed the hatchlings a special food, keeping them apart as they grow. The first to mature becomes the new queen.
Then it turns violent: the new queen destroys her still-growing rivals, and if two emerge at once, they fight until only one is left. This part is an exception to the democracy.
When a hive grows too large, the bees make another decision together. Facing the life-or-death choice of a new home, they reach a consensus, a form of collective democracy.
Tonkean macaques, in the forests of Sulawesi in Indonesia, use a similar system. They move in groups to find food and shelter without conflict, and any macaque, whatever its age or sex, can lead.
The vote begins when a macaque heads towards a fruit patch, then stops and looks back to see if the others are following. Another may set off in a different direction, towards a different patch. The rest then cast their votes by joining one or the other, based on their preferences and their ties to the group. The vote is settled once a lead macaque stops looking back, and the others fall in with the larger group, so that the whole troop stays together.
By force
Not every animal makes decisions collectively. Chimpanzees are a study in dominance and power struggles, with a rise to the top that involves alliances, favours and deception, much like human politics.
A chimpanzee group is led by an experienced adult male, but he cannot get there without support, so would-be leaders build coalitions with both sexes, and the one with the most backers takes charge.
According to the primatologist Dr Jane Goodall, though, the struggle can turn complex and violent. A male who fails, or who makes poor decisions, may be driven out of the group altogether.
Chimps hold grudges much as we do, remembering a leader’s mistakes, and may replace him with another. The alpha male, whose main aim is mating, is not fixed by birth; rank is settled through a pecking order, and a dominant male may bully and even terrorise others to hold his place. Sometimes a leader takes his allies to war on a neighbouring group, with casualties, and the winners absorb the losers.
Led by a female
As we have seen, honeybees are democratic and also matriarchal, but they are not the only ones led by females.
Elephant herds are led by the oldest female. Intelligent and experienced, with a memory of where to find food and water, she guides the herd without any voting or power struggle; the oldest female is simply the undisputed leader.
It may surprise you, but it is the lionesses, not the male, who really run a pride. There is a male thought of as the leader, but it is the lionesses who guard the territory, hunt and hold the pride together.
Killer whales, or orcas, are matrilineal too. An older female leads the whole family, including her offspring’s young, sometimes for around 50 years, and the family units travel together.
Ants, like bees, have a queen whose role is breeding, while the rest carry out the tasks that keep the colony going.
Other animals led by females include mole rats, meerkats, bonobos and lemurs.
The alphas
In spotted hyena society, the females lead. The clan is matrilineal, but only the alpha female rules. Each female takes her rank in the hierarchy soon after birth, and the females sit at the top of the pecking order, and are the more aggressive.
But rank here owes less to birth than to social ties: a female’s one-to-one relationships win her support, and the one with the most backing leads. Females and cubs also get easier access to food and water, which keeps the next generation healthy.
Wolves choose their leaders differently. They live in packs, which are really families, led by a breeding male and female, the pack’s parents.
This pair is dominant and the only one to breed. The make-up of the pack shifts from year to year, and wolves move up and down the pecking order; a lower-ranked wolf may challenge the leader, and if the leader loses, it will likely leave to find a mate and start its own pack.
Wild dogs are led by an alpha pair too, which reaches the top through dominance. The rest of the mixed-sex pack act as helpers, supporting the pair by raising the pups, bringing food and babysitting while the others are away.
These wild societies each have their own way of choosing a leader and keeping order, and many of their methods look much like ours. There is a lot we could learn from them about leadership, though when it comes to pecking orders and killing off rivals, ballots and voting machines start to look rather more appealing.
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