Endangered Primate Society: Crested Black Macaque Troop | Nature on PBS

The Funkiest Monkeys premieres Wednesday, January 29, 2014, on PBS. The macaques Ugi has been following live in a special nature reserve known as Tangkoko in North Sulawesi. These extremely intelligent and social animals live in large family groups and forage chiefly for fruit. Each of the 70 individuals in this troop has been named which helps in documenting their relationships and strict hierarchical structure dominated by an alpha male called Tarzan. Tarzan has exclusive access to all the females coming into season, but his position is never secure. Male macaques migrate between troops and he must constantly be on the alert for males looking to usurp his position. The rules for female macaques, however, are different. Females form the stable core of a troop, each one inheriting her position from her mother, including the alpha female, and none of them ever leaves the group.