Monkey drama!

So MAJOR dramz in monkeyland! I have been working with the Guanacaste group (the harry potter group) for the past few days and crazy things have been happening.

Some background info: Guanacaste is led by Babaganouj - the most badass monkey in the jungle. He's big, and he's tough, and he is a good protector. He is always scouting for danger and ready to fight any other monkeys who threaten his family. I love him. Back in the day, BabaG used to be the alpha for LV (the food group). Guanacaste is a better group (more females) and apparently about 6 years ago, BabaG decided to take over Guanacaste and kick out the alpha in charge at the time. Marmite - another male in LV came along with him.

Well last month, BabaG disappeared. We weren't sure what had happened to him - but we assumed that he probably got into a fight and died from his wounds (its a rough life for an adult male capuchin). He had had a previous injury and wasn't using his left arm at the time that he disappeared - we assumed the worst after there were no signs of him for weeks. In the meantime, Marmite had assumed the alpha role and spent much of his days at the centre of the group - bonding with the females by acting like a dick - aka threatining us researchers.

When a new male takes over a capuchin group it is very common for him to kill any babies he finds. The theory behind this behaviour is that by killing any babies that aren't his, the new male will free up the females so he can mate with them sooner - and by doing this he increases his own reproductive success. There are quite a few babies in Guanacaste right now - Seamus, Selkie, and Hufflepuff are all young monkeys who are at risk, and Mrs Weasley is about to have a baby any day now. Sadly, Luna was pregnant the last time we saw her - but yesterday when we saw her she was no longer pregnant and her baby was not on her back (dead). Marmite is most likely the culprit.

Anyway, 2 days ago - the PHD student was searching for the monkeys and he found Marmite all by himself. He was injured and had puncture wounds on each of his thighs. Then yesterday when I was with Guanacaste, I tried to see if a new male had come in and given Marmite the boot - but it appeared that they didn't have a big male with them at all (which is a reason they had so much trouble finding a sleep tree last night - there was nobody to lead them). This morning I was searching for the monkeys again and guess who I found - BabaG!!!! I was sooo happy to see him! Sadly, he looked like he got messed up. He isn't using his back left leg, and he has a gigantic wound on his hip that looks old - but still painful. He was all by himself today but I imagine that he is the one who kicked out Marmite. Soon he will make his triumphant return. Hopefully he will be back before Mrs. Weasley has her baby because it is at risk without his protection.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see what happens. I am totally cheering for BabaG.

the end.