By Gabriel L Mushi - Guide, Greystoke MahaleChimpanzees live in communities composed of adult males and females and their young. In Mahale M community we have 65 chimpanzees. They all recognize each other and respect each others rank. Here in Mahale the alpha male of M community is Pimu, a twenty one year old male. He is quite muscular and big and very aggressive compared with other males.
Pimu’s mother Fatuma is an old female now 47 years of age. As the community alpha male’s mother she deserves all the respect, care and protection from her son who is now the alpha male, for example access to food, high rank among other females and protection from aggression of other chimps, but under Pimu’s reign all this seems not to work toward her side. On 13th July I observed Pimu’s bad manners toward his mother. I was with two clients viewing a group of 8 chimps on Kambele Mountain. Pimu was grooming Bonobo (an adult male) and another female in the undergrowth while his mother Fatuma sat about 7m from them. All of the sudden they all get excited and started vocalizing and this led Pimu to perform a spectacular charging display, swaying in vines while heading where his mother was seating and attacked her vigorously, this led his mother to run away while screaming loudly.
Pimu
