Keep calm and carry on: lessons from wasps on how societies survive power struggles

By Seirian Sumner, Professor of Behavioural Ecology, UCL
Owen Corbett, Researcher in Behavioural Ecology, UCL

What happens when a leader suddenly disappears? In politics, business and other human organisations, leadership transitions can trigger intense power struggles. Rivals compete for control, alliances shift and institutions can become unstable.

Similar dynamics occur throughout the animal kingdom. Our new research on tropical paper wasps, published in the journal Animal Behaviour, shows just how chaotic leadership struggles can be – but…

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