- Faking it.
It doesn't sound very sexually liberated, does it?
Well, you're about to meet a group of highly intelligent ladies
who have turned this idea on its head.
What if faking it could actually be the ticket
to a peaceful, equal society?
Morocco's Atlas Mountains...
are adorned with cedar forests.
Concealed within...
is a group of females who have engineered a society...
of stay-at-home dads.
Like these.
Barbary macaque moms are fiercely determined to get
maximum male protection for their kids.
And to do so, they trick every male into thinking...
he's the dad.
So how do these smart ladies spread this paternal confusion?
By faking it.
It's late fall...
and these female Barbary macaques are looking for love.
Like many primate species, they develop swollen behinds
when they are in season...
which signal to the males that they are ready for action.
And sure enough, they're attracting quite the attention.
In a few weeks, this female, with her distinctive eye freckles
will be pregnant...
which will put an extra strain on her tough life
in these extreme forests...
5,000 feet above sea level.
The choices she will make this mating season
will determine her ability to survive future winters.
She has her pick of eight hot-headed males.
Passions flare this time of year.
But the females aren't impressed by who's boss.
They're impressed by males like this,
who pitch in with the child care.
Out female is checking out her options.
She's looking to see which males can keep the kids under control...
which males are patient and nurturing...
and have a softer side.
So maybe not him.
This fatherly specimen, though, is catching all the girls' eyes.
He's playful and popular.
Our fierce, freckled queen makes the first move.
Time for a spot of flirting.
He's keen.
So is she.
She holds his leg... and vocalizes to encourage him.
It's a deliberate ploy--
The more noise she makes,
the more likely her conquest is to ejaculate--
thirty times more likely.
So by calling loudly during sex,
these fierce queens can maximize the chances
that their preferred male will become dad.
Post-coital grooming also shows that our freckled heroine is into her mate.
Job done.
Except...
that's far from the end of her plan.
A females' fertile period only lasts five days,
but their sexual swellings last for several weeks--
they look fertile even when they're not.
This gives females the opportunity to play a very different game--
the more of these guys our freckled queen mates with,
the more will be tricked into believing they might be the dad.
When playing this numbers game,
her audacious calls aren't to encourage her partner--
they're to tell listening admirers she'd be open to their advances.
Only she knows she's faking it.
These males likely have no chance of being the father of her next baby,
but they all think they could be.
This paternal confusion means her infant will grow up protected by multiple dads.
All the ladies here play the field.
Their clever manipulation ensures that
these boys pull their weight with the kids...
and protect them from danger.
And it delivers a crucial benefit to the females, too.
In winter, temperatures up here can plummet to near freezing.
To survive the cold, a newly pregnant macaque mom
needs to look after herself... and her growing bump.
With their existing babies safe
in the warm embrace of their many possible dads,
these females have their hands free to keep themselves alive...
and as a result of their promiscuous ways,
these fierce queens have helped to shape
one of the most caring primate societies on earth.
It just goes to show, it's not all about strength.
By taking the guys for a ride,
these smart ladies have created a society that works for them.