Some collectives of animals have a hierarchy of rulers. The Black Wildebeest, also known as gnu, are lead by a Number One Alpha male. In larger herds the leadership extends to the number two Beta male, the number three Delta male and so on to the twenty-sixth Omega male. One day a solitary wildebeest encountered the herd. Alpha challenged the stranger. The new arrival could only join the herd if he were acquainted with one of the 26 wildebeest leaders. Fortunately the answer was yes. The new gnu knew Nu.

Social life of Wildebeest from an African Handbook

"Male wildebeest are territorial, the herds comprise females and their young or bachelor males. At about 18 month the young male will leave the female herd and join a bachelor herd. With an age of five or six years it will attempt to defeat a territorial male and acquire a territory of ist own. In absence of the females during the rain most males join the bachelor herds and reestablish their territories when the females return. The bachelor herds stay often in the poorer parets of the habitat.
When the female herds return the male wildebeest try to hold them as long as possible in their territory. But sooner or later the females break away and move on to better grazing. A conspicious feature of the territory is the dingpile, where the male defaecates regularly as a signpost of his property. There are frequent encounters with the males of the adjecent territory. Both drop to their knees and engage the rival with horn lunges. They push for a while and disengage again. Most disputes are mere demonstrations and often to be watched in the morning or in late afternoon.
Birth are limited to a few weeks each year between January and April, the big numbers increase their chances of the individuals to stay undetected from predators. The juveniles are often gathered in small groups within the herd.
Social activity is confined to early morning and late afternoon, the hot midday hours are taken with ruminating. The other hours of day and night are spend with feeding, the diet consists to 98 percent of grass."