Researchers monitored nine female Barbary macaques for nearly 600 hours and found that the middle-ranking individuals had higher levels of stress hormones in their fecal sample than the others. And human middle managers are likely to suffer a similar degree of stress.

"Although the particular challenges that humans face might be different [from] those seen in other species, the underlying physiology is similar," lead author Katie Edwards of the University of Liverpool wrote in an email. "The idea remains that individuals in the middle of the hierarchy have to contend with challenges from above and below."

Other macaque observers agree that life is no picnic for middle monkeys. "The stress for macaques, like humans, is not so much about getting