Royals seek validation among baboons

Not to denigrate anyone’s reasons for an interest in ethology, but this seems like a rather self-serving reading of the animal data.

Rank among female baboons is handed down, with a daughter automatically assuming her mother’s rank. This hierarchy can remain stable for generations. Whereas the male hierarchy is constantly changing as males fight among themselves and with new arrivals.

Having an inherited position similar to that of troop of female baboons was a very special confirmation for a member of the British royal family, Princess Michael of Kent. When she visited Dr. Cheney and Dr. Seyfarth in Botswana, she remarked to them, “I always knew that when people who aren’t like us claim that hereditary rank is not part of human nature, they must be wrong. Now you’ve given me evolutionary proof!”

I suppose that also explains all the poo-flinging in British royal history.

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