Ring-tailed lemur

In the wild, ring-tails live in matriarchal social groups of up to 30 individuals. Females stay with their troop their whole lives. Hierarchy is typically established in their youth through play-fighting. Males are completely dominated by the females — even the lowliest female is superior to the highest-ranked male.

During mating season, the males contest for female attention through ‘stink fights’. Coating their entire tail with smelly secretions from their scent glands, they wave it high in the air, each trying to outstink rival males. Males, especially dominant ones also waft their 'scented’ tail at females to attract them.

Males move between troops every 2 – 5 years. Many leave their parents’ troops as subadults to join other groups but reality bites. They must fight their way to become one of the top males — lowly-ranked males get smacked around a lot by the females.

Low-ranking males often end up hanging around the periphery of their troops to avoid being picked on by the others. But these outliers risk getting picked off by predators easily.

Studies show that these males use their gift of the gab to keep within the good graces of their group. They rely on two sounds: a moan to stay in touch with the group in general and a “hmm” sound to signal friendliness towards and maintain ties with more tolerant individuals in the troop.

Though all the males studied made the two calls, low-ranking ones were more likely to go “hmm”. By targeting preferred individuals in the group, these misfits tread the tightrope between getting pushed around by the troop and being pounced on by predators.

The results highlight how meaningful and nuanced the ring-tails’ social behaviour is. Studying the language of lemurs may give us clues as to how humans’ distant relatives may have interacted to keep their groups together.