Chimpanzees are the species closest to humans and last night watching “Dynasties” David Attenborough’s latest stunning series they looked the part. An extraordinary tale of nature’s power politics in the small troop of Chimps led by David.
The central figure David was not the alpha male because he was a nice bloke but at the beginning of the episode, he was alone with the males in the group waiting on their chance to make a move on his position as leader. Baby chimps’ splash and frolic at watering holes. Mothers watch intently but the ticking time bomb in the group is about ready to explode.
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Knowing the ladies of the troop were about to become fertile and ready to mate - he (David), knew a challenge was on the cards and he managed to find some support of sort from old a Chimpanzee via some literal back-scratching, is enough to repel one attempted coup, but next time will David be so lucky. He had to keep his eye particularly on two upstarts Luther and Jumpkin, the most likely contenders for his crown.
With a drought and after a fire the group were at a heighten tension and the females came into season. In the night, David was given a right kicking when a gang of the young males took their chance. He was horribly wounded with a finger missing, great gouges in his flesh and foam dried to a white crust around his mouth - he looked to have been killed. The wife said he was dead until we saw a flicker of movement.
The females and young chimps gathered around him to tender the wounds but they needed to move on to search for water. Incredibly alone, he managed to gather some strength and days later began to follow the group to the water. Meanwhile Luther was trying to take over the troop bashing trees and running around but the arrival of David stop that.
The task for David even in his weaken state was to put Luther down and he soon confronted him with the big “Come and have a go if you think your hard enough” kind of attitude he (Luther) run faster than Usain Bolt to get away. He was back, King David. He was no longer fighting fit but time is a great healer and he soon linked-up with the old chimps to former a tidy firm. Nine months later, he was laying back with a new son but the alpha male time will end soon and maybe Luther will get his chance.
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