Thursday, August 21, 2008
Growing pains for the young males
Longitude: 29.6272  Latitude:-4.6574

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An earlier photo of young Titan, who is struggling to find a place among the dominant adult males. (Photo: JGI)

The big group of chimpanzees convened in Linda valley to start their day, so that is where I started mine. It was hard to get and keep a target with the movements of the group. My frustrations only got worse when the huge group encountered a troop of red colobus. Chaos erupted around us as the chimps scaled trees in pursuit of prey and several males caught monkeys. The typical frenzy of screaming, chasing, begging, and fighting ensued, making data collection even more difficult. I was happy to see that Freud was getting some meat to eat for himself. It's hard to know how well he's been eating lately and he's becoming thinner.

It was a while before things calmed down enough for me to finally collect data, but eventually I began observing Sampson. Sampson kept off to the side, eating leaves and insects, keeping a quiet and safe distance from the rest of the frenzied chimps.

Sampson eventually meandered over (I guess the meat was too tempting to ignore), and he scored some meat for himself. Within a short time of being close to the males Sampson was displayed at by Frodo and had Faustino bristle and take a swipe at him.

As the group went on the move towards Rutanga, Titan faced similar struggles to Sampson. Apollo chased him away from his feeding spot, and Frodo bristled and chased him.

Titan's abuse continued as the group continued moving north. Apollo took a swipe at Titan and Titan pant-grunted and bobbed his head in submission. Sheldon displayed at Titan and chased the screaming, fear-grinning young male up a tree. It must not be easy to be a young male, trying to find a place amongst the bigger and stronger adult males. Their future reproductive success depends on establishing a high rank so they get prime mating access. Alpha and high ranking males sire a large proportion of the offspring born, but they have to challenge and bypass the other males to get there. Do fathers help their sons in this process? Do they protect, assist and/or show less aggression towards their sons as they join the adult male social group? The data I am collecting will help to answer my questions.

Unfortunately I cannot say if Titan's day got any better, because late in the afternoon the whole group crossed into Mitumba. I had to say goodbye as the B Record assistants went on.

 

Contributor: Emily Wroblewski    Permalink