Is Tesla being steered in the wrong direction?
Indeed, the animal kingdom is often seen as a realm dominated by males. But don't be fooled: many species of animals have female-centric societies. Furthermore, many have dominant females at the helm. These matriarchs keep the guys in check while controlling the social structure of their communities, female leaders who also know how to respond to threats and crises. So, who are these ladies that do a better job than the lads? Click through this gallery to find out!
Elephants are matriarchal—the matriarch is usually the biggest and oldest. She presides over a multi-generational herd that includes other females, called cows, and their young.
The matriarch is all seeing, all knowing. She makes decisions about where the herd goes, how to respond to threats and crises, and when and where to settle down to sleep.
But "big mama" is no autocrat. While her wisdom and authority is respected, other members of the herd can make suggestions and influence where the elephants move to, for example. Meanwhile, adult males, called bulls, tend to roam on their own, sometimes forming smaller, more loosely associated all-male groups.
A highly sociable species of antelope, topi are big, powerful beasts who are quick on their feet.
Females have a reputation for being sexually aggressive during the mating season. Indeed, these ladies know what they want and know how to get it.
Quite often it is a female that will pursue a male rather than the other way round. And if there's a particularly good-looking unattached guy in the herd, only the most dominant and persistent of females will win his hand.
The most internationally recognized lemur species, ring-tailed lemurs are gregarious creatures, living in groups—known as "troops"—of up to 30 individuals. They are also a female-dominant species, a commonality among lemurs.
Female ring-tailed lemurs wear the trousers in that they are the peace-keeping matriarchs of the colony. They also referee fights and arguments.
As with all lemur young, baby ring-tails are coddled by their moms and enjoy a free ride for the first two weeks of their lives, clinging to their mother's belly as they gain strength in order to ride on their backs.
An endangered great ape, the bonobo, along with the chimpanzee, is the closest extant relative to humans. And it shares some of our traits.
Sexual activity generally plays a major role in bonobo society, with females displaying occasional bisexual behavior.
In fact, females use their sexuality to diffuse tensions between fighting individuals, prompting primatologists to suggest that female bonobos can resolve conflict with affection rather than aggression.
While it's still the male that lords over reproductive rights and occasional defense, it's the female lion that actually forms the stable unit in a pride.
Lionesses control the social structure and hunting of the pride, which averages around 15 lions—several adult females and up to four males and their cubs of both sexes.
Female lions share communal rearing and suckling of their young. But they don't tolerate slackers. If one of ladies isn't pulling her weight, she'll be unceremoniously fired. This way the fitness of the pride is maintained.
Highly sociable and intelligent, orcas, or killer whales, are notable for their complex societies. These family groups are based on matrilines consisting of the eldest female (matriarch) and her siblings.
Male orcas are mama's boys, rarely leaving their mom's side. And female orcas run a tight ship, often punishing and disciplining younger members of the group with a smack of their tails.
Closely related matrilines form loose aggregations called pods, usually consisting of one to four matrilines. Calves are spoilt, carefully nursed by their moms for up to year.
The spotted hyena is the most social of the Carnivora order of placental mammals in that it has the largest group sizes and most complex social behaviors.
Spotted hyena society is matriarchal; females are larger than males and dominate them, their aggression and assertiveness fueled by unusually high levels of testosterone.
And as if to keep their menfolk in line, female hyenas will sometimes mount and attempt to mate with male hyenas as a male would do.
We've all heard of the "queen bee," and she really does rule the colony. Only the queen can reproduce, and she does so with the help of several hundred male "drones" that join the colony to fertilize the queen's eggs, after which they drop dead.
A honeybee queen guarantees the survival of the colony by laying up to 250,000 eggs per year and possibly more than one million in her lifetime. But she's not the only female doing her part.
During the warm, sunny parts of the year, female "worker" bees leave the hive every day to collect nectar and pollen.
We all know clownfish from the hit 2003 animated comedy-adventure movie 'Finding Nemo,' where it's a male clownfish that steals the show. However, in real life, these tropical marvels have a strict hierarchal social structure, with the largest, most aggressive female acting as the highest authority.
The queen clownfish is served by a retinue of males throughout her reign. She's waited on hand and fin, with underlings bringing her food, finding her a home, and maintaining housekeeping duties.
The male who pleases her most gets to mate with her. Curiously though, if the female dies, the social hierarchy shifts with the breeding male exhibiting protandrous sex reversal to become the breeding female.
Naked mole rats are not the most attractive creatures on the block, but these odd-looking rodents are near unique in that they have a female-centric eusocial hierarchy that is similar to bees, ants, and termites.
In fact, the naked mole rat is the only widely recognized example of eusociality (the highest classification of sociality) in mammals. The colony is run by a queen, who is the only reproductive female.
The queen is served by perhaps three reproductive males and, as the largest and most dominant rat in the building, is treated with the utmost respect.
Sources: (Live Science) (National Geographic) (The Guardian) (World Wildlife Fund)
See also: The most spectacular migrations in the animal kingdom
Animal species with dominant females
Who rules the animal kingdom?
LIFESTYLE Natural world
Indeed, the animal kingdom is often seen as a realm dominated by males. But don't be fooled: many species of animals have female-centric societies. Furthermore, many have dominant females at the helm. These matriarchs keep the guys in check while controlling the social structure of their communities, female leaders who also know how to respond to threats and crises. So, who are these ladies that do a better job than the lads? Click through this gallery to find out!