Primates, as you know, often coexist in groups, and although there are individuals living alone, these animals usually form well-defined social structures - with characteristics that vary from species to species. Chimpanzees, for example, like bonobos, live in communities with up to 100 or 150 members, and within these large communities they are divided into smaller groups, with about 3 to 15 members.

Another feature of chimpanzees is that there is a clear hierarchy within groups, where one or two dominant males - in this case, alpha and beta - rule things, and the other males and females in the nucleus are submissive to them. An interesting factor is that this hierarchy can change under the influence of coalitions among other males, and even violent conflicts may occur over power. Having clarified this ...

Barbarism in the jungle

According to Yasmin Tayag of the Inverse portal, researchers at Iwoa State University have come across a rather unusual - and slightly disturbing - situation. The team had been following a group of Senegalese chimpanzees of the Pan troglodytes verus subspecies a few years ago and recently discovered that one of the members, more precisely, a former especially tyrant alpha male, had been brutally murdered.

According to Yasmin, when researchers began following primates, the dead chimpanzee, named after Foudouko's researchers, was the group's leader and shared command with another individual, the beta Mamadou chimpanzee. Foudouko, as the researchers explained, was not a very nice monkey - so much so that he was nicknamed Saddam by the researchers! - and had a bit too oppressive behavior.

The one above is dead Foudouko

Only Foudouko was true to his right-hand man, Mamadou. It turns out that Mamadou was injured during his "tenure" as "deputy" and was eventually forced to step down - as a more debilitated member of the group, he had to step aside. And Foudouko, who decided to maintain close ties with his friend, was eventually isolated by the younger chimpanzees who formed a coalition.

For over the years, the alpha male tried to resume his old position several times, and was even attacked by the other males in the group. Then the clashes between the old tyrant and the new leaders came to an end when Foudouko thought he could drag a wing over one of the females and regain control - and he was beaten to death.

According to the researchers, when the chimpanzee's corpse was found, one of its feet, back and anus had bloody wounds, and further analysis revealed various damage to its internal organs.

As if little, the researchers observed that even after Foudouko had already died, his former "subjects" continued to butcher his body with stones and sticks. In addition, some members of the group - with a half Hannibal Lecter vein, by the way - were seen eating parts of the corpse, and one female apparently even tried to bite his penis!

It could be our fault

This extremely violent behavior of the group caught the attention of the researchers, as it is not common for members of this particular subspecies to show such an aggressive temperament. Moreover, it is really intriguing that they organized themselves in this way to kill an individual.

This extremely violent behavior is extremely rare.

However, the researchers explained that this particular group had a strangely low number of females. Scientists suspect that poaching female chimpanzees in Senegal - to sell them as pets - may have created an imbalance that has resulted in greater competition between males.

In any case, while the increase in violence among alpha males in the group due to the lack of females is understandable, Foudouko's murder is being treated by the researchers as a single incident. The scientists also explained that the chimpanzee's own approach of forcing his return as an alpha group also served as his death sentence.