Overview

• Eighty-eight percent of female gorillas in multi-male groups outrank at least one adult male despite being roughly half their size.
• Females win more than 25 percent of conflicts with non-alpha males, overturning assumptions based on body size alone.
• Victorious females secure priority access to key food resources, demonstrating shared competition over nutrition.
• Researchers drew on 25 years of behavioral data from four wild mountain gorilla groups in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
• Published in Current Biology, the findings challenge long-held views of strict male dominance and inform debates on the evolution of human gender hierarchies.