Monkey sexual politics documentary scene

June 3, 2015 12:20 PM

A few years ago I watched a David Attenborough nature doc in which he narrated a scene that took place in an ancient, overgrown jungle temple. An alpha male monkey was surrounded by females, and a smaller, cheeky, male monkey waited nearby. A scene unfolds where a particular female waits for the right moment, calls the cheeky monkey over when the alpha isn't looking, and quickly mates with him, before he runs off into the jungle. What is this scene from? I would LOVE to find it again. Thanks.
posted by 0bvious to Science & Nature (5 answers total)

It's from the new-ish Disneynature documentary Monkey Kingdom. At least, a scene exactly like this happens. But the movie is narrated by Tina Fey.
posted by mefireader at 12:22 PM on June 3, 2015

Not Attenborough either, but might it have been A Monkey’s Tale, part of the BBC’s Planet Earth Live series a few years ago? It followed a troupe of macaques ‘who live amongst spectacular ruined temples in northern Sri Lanka.’
posted by misteraitch at 12:54 PM on June 3, 2015

The Polonnaruwa macaques get a lot of attention, both from researchers and film crews.

'Social Climbers' from The Life of Mammals?
posted by holgate at 12:58 PM on June 3, 2015

I don't remember the temple bit, but there was definitely a scene like this in Life Story, which is narrated by David Attenborough.
posted by catch as catch can at 3:14 PM on June 3, 2015

I found the exact clip with some clever google searches: The Life of Mammals, 'Sneaky Mating'
posted by 0bvious at 2:57 AM on June 4, 2015