But first, to assert his elevated status over these lowly chimps, he begins his dominance display. Rising up on his hind legs, Maani shakes the surrounding trees, breaking branches and tearing off leaves as he thunders through the brush. With his hair on end, howling, he leaps onto the trunk of the fig, slapping it with his hands and feet as he climbs. His minions scream and move higher up the tree in a panic. Maani chooses a bunch of figs in the lower canopy and settles down to feed.
Dominance is a fact of life in chimpanzee society.
In their political world, remembering one's place is a matter of survival. While mutinies among the chimps can change the hierarchy, such upsets in rank are rare, and can result in banishment from the community or even murder. If Duane, the Sonso community's stern-looking alpha male, shows up, Maani will grunt and whimper with the same ingratiating submissiveness that the females showed him when he arrived. If necessary, he will flee the area. Four chimp researchers and two trackers now stand at the foot of this tree, and in the wake of Maani's dramatic arrival, we discuss what we can deduce from the calls we heard.