From the shell wars of hermit crabs to little blue penguins spying on potential rivals, power struggles in the animal kingdom are as diverse as they are fascinating, and this book illuminates their surprising range and connections.
Power in the Wild: The Subtle and Not-So-Subtle Ways Animals Strive for Control—Understanding the Hidden Strategies of Power, Hierarchy, and Social Influence
Power in the Wild by Lee Alan Dugatkin explores how animals navigate dominance hierarchies, form strategic alliances, and use deception, aggression, and cooperation to gain control over resources and status. This book is highly relevant to the Center for Integrative Neuroscience, as it aligns with our theories on power dynamics, social manipulation, and the biological foundations of dominance and control—insights that apply not just to the animal kingdom but to workplace politics, institutional hierarchies, and whistleblowing retaliation.
How This Book Connects to Our Work
✔ The Evolutionary Roots of Power & Hierarchy—Dugatkin’s research reveals that dominance struggles, status jockeying, and coalition-building are deeply embedded in social species—including humans. This supports our exploration of how power operates in medical, corporate, and bureaucratic systems, where alliances and hierarchy dictate influence.
✔ Mobbing, Social Exclusion & the Targeting of High Performers – The book discusses how animals use collective aggression (mobbing) to control threats or rivals—a pattern seen in human workplaces where those who challenge corruption or disrupt power structures become targets of social exclusion and sabotage. This directly aligns with our Status Marble Game model of power theft, mobbing, and dominance enforcement.
✔ Energy Economy & Status Battles—Dugatkin describes how animals compete for energy, attention, and influence, mirroring our insights into how social power games drain energy, steal status, and manipulate group dynamics for control. This is highly relevant to our work on psychological warfare, trauma bonding, and how sociopathic leaders consolidate power.
✔ Strategic Resistance & Survival in Power Structures—By analyzing how animals outmaneuver dominants, form protective coalitions, and leverage intelligence over brute force, Dugatkin provides insights into how individuals can navigate and survive hostile environments—whether in nature or within human institutions. This directly relates to our work in whistleblower strategy, psychological resilience, and energy sovereignty.
Essential for Those Seeking to Understand & Master Power DynamicsFor those who have witnessed or experienced the consequences of unchecked power in organizations, medical institutions, or personal relationships, Power in the Wild provides a scientific lens through which to decode manipulation, control tactics, and social warfare. It reinforces our mission to help individuals recognize, resist, and ultimately reshape power structures using both neuroscience-backed strategies and evolutionary insights.
The quest for power in animals is so much richer, so much more nuanced than who wins what knock-down, drag-out fight. Indeed, power struggles among animals often look more like an opera than a boxing match. Tracing the path to power for over thirty different species on six continents, writer and behavioral ecologist Lee Alan Dugatkin takes us on a journey around the globe, shepherded by leading researchers who have discovered that in everything from hyenas to dolphins, bonobos to field mice, cichlid fish to cuttlefish, copperhead snakes to ravens, and meerkats to mongooses, power revolves around spying, deception, manipulation, forming and breaking up alliances, complex assessments of potential opponents, building social networks, and more. Power pervades every aspect of the social life of animals: what they eat, where they eat, where they live, whom they mate with, how many offspring they produce, whom they join forces with, and whom they work to depose. In some species, power can even change an animal’s sex. Nor are humans invulnerable to this magnificently intricate melodrama: Dugatkin’s tales of the researchers studying power in animals are full of unexpected pitfalls, twists and turns, serendipity, and the pure joy of scientific discovery.