Female hostility over rank isn’t unusual amongst primates – we’ve already witnessed bullying at play within the matriarchy of savannah baboons – but attacking males is. One study into female ring-tailed lemur aggression found that males are three times more likely than females to be the recipients of serious injury. Some males even die as a result of female violence. In Madagascar I watched male ring-tailed lemurs subjected to routine physical harassment – biting, shoving and hitting – to surrender their food, a cosy sleep spot or prime patch of sun.
