Japan’s Monkey Queen who violently overthrew the alpha male of her troop to become its first female leader in 70 years could lose her title amid mating season.
Yakei is a female Japanese macaque, and the alpha female leader of a troop of 677 monkeys in Takasakiyama Natural Zoological Garden, Oita, southern Japan.
In 2021, the reserve reported that nine-year-old Yakei had taken the top spot of the troop after fighting her own mother and seeing off three high-ranking males.
Now, experts are anticipating that Yakei could lose the top spot during the current breeding season, which runs from November until March.
Yakei (pictured) is a female Japanese macaque, and the alpha female leader of a troop of 677 monkeys in Takasakiyama Natural Zoological Garden
Takasakiyama Natural Zoological Garden in Oita, southern Japan was established as a reserve for monkeys in 1952
Takasakiyama Natural Zoological Garden was established as a reserve for monkeys in 1952, but never before has it had a female leading the macaque population in its 70-year history.
Takasakiyama has two Japanese macaque monkey troops, comprising around 1,500 of the creatures in total. Yakei is leader of what staff call 'troop B'.
Last April, Yakei beat up her own mother, Nanchu, 31, to become the top-ranking female of troop B.
But as if that weren't enough, in her quest for dominance she violently overthrew Sanchu, the 31-year-old alpha male who had been leader of troop B for five years, in June.
A hostile takeover by a female is very rare in Japanese macaque society, according to Yu Kaigaishi, a researcher at the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
'Only a few cases have been reported in the history of primatology,' Kaigaishi told the New York Times.
There is a strong social hierarchy in groups of Japanese macaques, with many benefits to the higher-ranking members, such as first access to food.
Experts know Yakei is the leader of the troop thanks to the 'peanut test' – providing the monkeys with peanuts and seeing who eats first. Males and females stepped aside to let Yakei eat first, which confirmed her status.
Since then, Yakei has shown some behaviours 'typically seen only in dominant males', Kaigaishi said. These include walking with her tail up and shaking tree branches with her body.
Pictured is the Takasakiyama Natural Zoological Garden in 2018. Staff keep an eye on the behaviours of the two Japanese macaque troops
Wild Japanese macaques inhabit here on the hills of Takasakiyama, one of very
