'Alpha male' primates are rare, with females about as likely to dominate the opposite sex, study finds

A photograph of two macaques fighting in water. .

In the primate world, alpha males rarely dominate females, scientists have discovered — and there are about as many examples of males dominating females as there are of females dominating males.

The researchers investigated intersexual dominance across more than 100 primate species and discovered that, in most primates, neither sex is clearly dominant over the other, challenging historical assumptions that males are usually more domineering.