Monkeys!

[andrewducker]

I caught a few minutes of a show about gorillas the other day, following a family of them around with a voiceover explaining the fights over dominance, food gathering and play that were going on.  It was rather entertaining, especially as it resembled nothing so much as a monkey version of Survivor or Big Brother.  A few minutes was spent throwing back and forth such titles as "Monkey Idol", "Big Monkey" and The Weakest Monkey"

So I was particularly amused to read this in the Guardian the following day. 

A few excerpts:

Earlier this week, for instance, when "Jodie" and "Chantelle" went in pursuit of younger males (disregarding repeated attempts to mount them by the big one researchers have christened "Dennis", and risking the disapproval of older members of the troop), the programme lacked only a Jane Goodall-style commentary, pointing out the females' rituals - such as lying on their backs, legs in the air, to signal receptiveness - to rival the acclaimed natural history film March of the Penguins.
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Whereupon, of course, the housemates revert to their instinctive rituals of bonding, grooming, and power play, and one recalls instantly the missing DNA and the dangers of anthropomorphising. Consider the lack of fellow feeling shown by the two alpha males, Pete and Michael, as they repeatedly rebuff the near-outcast, Jodie's, attempts to ingratiate herself. Notice the utter indifference to age, personality or expressions of horror that marks the middle-ranking Dennis's repeated attempts to mate with female members of the troop.