Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex among Apes
The roots of politics are older than humanity. A primatologist’s account of power, alliances and reconciliation in a zoo chimpanzee colony.
What it’s about
De Waal spent years watching the large chimpanzee colony at Arnhem Zoo in the Netherlands and recorded how its members competed for rank. The story centres on three adult males, Yeroen, Luit and Nikkie, whose shifting alliances decided who led the group.
He shows that chimpanzee power rests less on raw strength than on coalitions, social intelligence and support from the rest of the group, including the females, and argues that human politics grows from the same deep roots.
Key ideas
- 1
Power runs on coalitions
No male rules alone. Rank is won and kept by building alliances and breaking up the alliances of rivals.
- 2
Yeroen, Luit and Nikkie
An ageing leader loses his place, then backs a younger male to regain influence as the power behind the throne.
- 3
Strategy over instinct
Chimpanzees plan, bluff and manipulate. Their political moves are guided by intelligence, not reflex.
- 4
Reconciliation after conflict
Rivals often seek each other out after a fight and make up with a kiss or an embrace, which keeps the group together.
- 5
Politics is older than us
What looks like Machiavelli in apes suggests our own taste for power is part of our evolutionary heritage.
Who it’s for
- Readers curious about animal behaviour
- Anyone interested in power and politics
- Leaders who want to understand alliances
Other books by Frans de Waal
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