Cannibal chimps killed and ate their former leader – probably over sex.
Foudouko, a leader of more than 30 western chimpanzees in Fongoli, southeastern Senegal, was killed in 2013 by a group of his fellow chimps in a grisly death.
It was only the ninth recorded case of of a chimpanzee community killing one of its own.
Now new study for the International Journal of Primatology has cast light on the case and the competition among the chimpanzees for may have been the cause of the shocking murder.
Foudouko, said to be known as Saddam for his furrowed brow and “imperious air”, was long considered the leader of the group of chimps.
However, he lost his power in 2007 when his second-in-command Mamadou suffered an injury.
Foudouko was run out of town by others in the group.
Considered lost or dead, Foudouko surprised researchers when he returned almost a year later.
But he was forced to live in exile from the group as a shadow of his former self and now bowing to a new leader, Mamadou’s brother David, according to National Geographic .
He often suffered aggression from other chimpanzees in the group when he visited.
On June 15, 2013, researchers found him dead and filmed his . He was 17.
Indicating the chimps had held him down as others beat him, he was covered in bite marks and scratches and had suffered a wound to his foot and suffered blood loss.
The rest of the chimps then “partially cannibalised” the body.
Researchers said they witnessed them tearing out his throat and biting his genitals.
It is now thought that Foudouko targeted a female chimp in heat and suffered a backlash, according to researcher Michel Sadiakho.
University of Minnesota anthropologist Michael Wilson told National Geographic: “Killing enemies is pretty easy to explain, but killing your friends is a puzzle… There’s this really interesting tension between cooperation and conflict.
“It makes me think of The Sopranos.”
Mirror.co.uk
