How changes in lemur brains made some mean girls nice
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 12-Sep-2025 17:11 ET (12-Sep-2025 21:11 GMT/UTC)
If there was a contest for biggest female bullies of the animal world, lemurs would be near the top of the list. It’s the ladies who get their way and keep males in line. In one branch of the lemur family tree, however, some species have evolved to have a more harmonious relationship between the sexes. New findings suggest that this amiable shift was driven by changes in the “love hormone” oxytocin inside their brains.