This is a cultural and ethical norm among chimpanzees: it is prohibited to engage in sexual activities with family members.
Now, the incident has led to the Chief Leader of the Chimpanzees in Mahale National Park, located in the Uvinza District of Kigoma region, to resign from his position after being involved in the scandal of raping his sister.
Evance Magomba, the Head of Tourism Department in Mahale Park, briefly described the chimpanzee hierarchy and some of their customs, culture, and traditions that resemble those of humans when he met with journalist Jacob Ruvilo.
Evance Magomba explained that humans share approximately 98.8% similarity with chimpanzees. The chimpanzee’s brain is similar to that of a five-year-old child in terms of cognitive abilities.
The Alpha male, known as TEDDY (male), is the dominant chimpanzee in Mahale. He is a large chimpanzee but does not exercise his dominance forcefully. He was empowered by his mother to assume leadership because she had significant influence over the other chimpanzees.
Teddy took leadership in 2021, but eventually, he became intoxicated with power. In order to be a leader among chimpanzees, one must ensure that the group knows where they will find food on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. However, TEDDY neglected his responsibility and failed to provide proper guidance in the matter of food.
But what greatly angered his followers was the shocking incident of raping his biological sister. This was a grave offense because chimpanzees do not engage in familial mating.
Due to this, his fellow chimpanzees deemed him unfit to be their leader, and that is when he himself, out of disgrace, stepped down from his position without any violence. In the chimpanzee society, leadership requires the use of force, so when his followers isolated him, he realized that his leadership had come to an end and voluntarily relinquished his power without the use of force.
… Chimpanzee communities are led by a dominant male known as the “alpha male,” whose primary interests are sex and power. Leaders enjoy mating with fertile females and fathering as many offspring as possible. These dominant chimpanzees maintain peace by preventing conflicts within the group and controlling resources such as food.