I simply must tell you about Rodney. I loved this chimp from the first time I saw him on Monkey Business.
Rodney and ValRodney was a dominant male in one of the groups. He was rescued by Jim and Allison and was to spend his retirement years at Monkey World. He was a big boy, greying, with baldness at the back of his head and bald shoulders. In 2003 he turned 35.
If a scuffle broke out amongst the group, he would puff himself up and display leadership by stamping on the ground. The scuffle always settled within a few seconds of it actually starting.
In the wild, when the dominant male gets on in age, he will usually be killed off and the second in charge takes over. In this group, Hananya was the second in charge. Hananya was in his teens and would follow Rodney everywhere, grooming him and submitting to Rodney all the time.
Then came the day when Hananya thought he should take Rodney's place as dominant male leader. He initiated the fight with Rodney which led the rest of the group to climb into dear old Rodney. He was badly beaten up with these cuts all over his body. It was only after the fight was over that the group realised that Rodney was hurt and then decided to comfort him. But it was too late.
Both Jim and Allison have said the reason they did not intervene was because this is what happens in the wild. I tend to disagree because I feel these chimps don't know anything about the wild.
They've been in captivity all their lives and when they get to Monkey World, they have to learn to be a chimp again, and Monkey World isn't exactly the wild. Rodney was taken to be sewn and patched up by the vet. But during the night he suffered a heart attack and died.
As much as I was saddened by the death of dear old Rodney, what was to happen next left me in utter amazement.
Hananya was now the dominant male in the group. After the death of Rodney's episode, the next episode showed Hananya as leader. What happened was absolutely amazing.
Over night Hananya grew to the size of Rodney, he seemed to have more hair on him. But that was not all ... Hananya now had the exact same balding at the back of his head and his shoulders and paraded around in the exact same manner Rodney did. It is said that hormones made this to happen to Hananya.
I don't know what it is about Hananya, but from the first time I saw him, I didn't like him. Perhaps it was his ass-creeping ways that put me off him, I don't know.
I still don't like him, LOL.