Low-ranking females breed later, ovulate less frequently and can even spontaneously abort as a result of being persistently terrorized by dominants. As Sarah Blaffer Hrdy notes, across primate species ‘high rank carries with it not only freedom from harassment and exploitation by more dominant females, but also this sinister prerogative to interfere in the reproduction of other females’. This low blow to a female’s fertility has grave consequences, arguably far greater than the most savage canine-baring contest between males. It hits a female where it really hurts, in her precious genetic
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