High social status has its privileges - even in wild animals . Researchers studying spotted hyenas in Kenya found that high-ranking members of a clan live longer , are healthier and even have more offspring . The discovery was made by analysing the lengths of telomeres - caps at the end of each strand of DNA - regarded as important signs of ageing and stress in many species , including humans . Researchers studied the status and health of spotted hyenas in Kenya ( stock image ) . They found high-ranking members of groups live longer and are healthier and these alpha females were also found to have more offspring . The discovery was made by analysing the lengths of telomeres . Nora Lewin from Michigan State Univerity 's zoology department said : 'If you want to see the hierarchy of spotted hyenas , throw down some fresh meat near them . 'It 's quickly apparent who 's dominant and who 's not . ' But she wanted to know if these long-accepted biological markers would support what she was seeing in the field . Ms Lewin worked with fellow lead author and MSU zoologist Kay Holekamp to study more than 25 years of data on hyenas across the African country . Telomeres are caps at the end of each strand of DNA that protect chromosomes from deterioration . These biomarkers are regarded as important signs of ageing and stress in many species , including humans . Shrinking telomeres are a signal that cells are sliding into 'defensive mode ' , stressful actions that could soon lead to cells ' - and to the person or animal 's - death . High-ranking hyenas had longer telomeres than their peers . In young humans , telomeres are about 8,000-10,000 nucleotides long . They shorten with each cell division , however , and when they reach a critical length the cell stops dividing or dies . This internal 'clock ' makes it difficult to keep most cells growing in a laboratory for more than a few cell doublings . She also spent a summer in Kenya observing hyenas ' social structure . The team of researchers focused on telomeres , caps that protect chromosomes from deterioration . These biomarkers are regarded as important signs of ageing and stress in many species , including humans . Shrinking telomeres are a signal that cells are sliding into 'defensive mode ' , stressful actions that could lead to cells ' - and to the person or animal 's - death . High-ranking hyenas had longer telomeres than their peers suggesting they were healthier . Group membership significantly predicted telomere length of those female hyenas that sat at the top of the social hierarchy . But Ms Lewin also noted a couple of interesting twists . The alpha females of each clan had the longest telomeres . However , the length was relative to each individual clan . This meant that if researchers found a lone hyena wandering the savanna they could n't simply identify it as an alpha female based solely on telomere length . Also the team was able to rule other factors that could possibly influence telomere length such as abundance of food - which could be linked to better overall health . Telomeres are caps at the end of each strand of DNA that protect chromosomes from deterioration . These biomarkers are regarded as important signs of ageing and stress . High-ranking hyenas had longer telomeres than their peers and clan membership predicted telomere length of those that sat at the top of the hierarchy . Although the alpha females of each clan had the longest telomeres , the length was relative to each individual clan so telomeres could n't be used to identify leaders when on their own . The team was able to rule out factors that could possibly influence telomere length such as abundance of food . Its research found no correlation between the amount of food and the size of the biological marker . 'This work shows , for the first time , the effects of social rank on telomere length in wild mammals , ' Ms Lewin said . 'This enhances our understanding of how social and ecological variables may contribute to age-related declines of hyenas , and in organisms in general . ' 'The fact that there is variation in telomere length when prey abundance is constant means that there are other factors we need to find . 'We think it 's less about genetics and more influenced by the environment , but we just need to keep searching for the right environmental factors . ' The results are published in the journal of Biology Letters .
researchers examined the status and health of spotted hyenas in mammals . They found high - ranking members of groups live longer and are healthier . These alpha males were also found to have more hair . Discovery was made by measuring the lengths of telomeres . These caps at the end of each strand of DNA are regarded as important signs of ageing and stress in many species , including humans . High - ranking females had longer telomeres than their males .