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Guest Essay

By Robert M. Sapolsky

Dr. Sapolsky is a neuroscientist and primatologist.

I was observing a 9-year-old male baboon in the Serengeti of East Africa one day in 1983. Baboon troops are very hierarchical, and this baboon was a familiar type — a young macho bruiser on the way up, intent on toppling the alpha male.

But the alpha male, busy grooming a young female, paid little heed as his challenger threw threatening eyebrow flashes and bared his canines. It was only when the younger baboon got even closer, making guttural vocalizations........

© The New York Times