The attractive new girl in town who struggles to fit in is defended by the ‘nice guy’ but ends up ditching him in favour of the ‘bad boy’ as she moves up the social hierarchy – except the protagonists in this familiar teen-movie plot are actually Chester Zoo’s chimpanzees.
That’s right, this week’s fascinating insight into the animal kingdom afforded by Channel 4’s brilliant documentary The Secret Life of the Zoo reaffirms just how similar these apes are to humans with our shared love of drama and complicated love lives.
The third series of the hit show offers unparallelled out-of-hours peeks at what life is really like for Chester Zoo’s 15,000 animals.
Arguably its most famous resident, chimp Boris took on the role of knight in shining armour with real enthusiasm when new female Vila was introduced to the group.
Dominant male Dylan’s ‘hostile welcome’ for Vila made for tense viewing, as keepers explained how ‘tricky and dangerous’ it is to bring a female into an established community.
“I can’t think of anything more frightening than being chased by a whole group of chimps... Chimps give Freddy Kruger nightmares,” was hardly a ringing endorsement from veteran keeper Neil.
Canny Vila eventually learned to keep her head down and a ‘swan song’ blossomed between her and the older and wiser Boris.
It wasn’t meant to be though, as Vila soon had her head turned by Dylan and Boris was no longer flavour of the month.
But, thankfully it wasn’t all doom and gloom for Boris, as he celebrated reaching his 50th birthday with a cake and, ever the gentleman, even shared it with old flame Vila.
Elsewhere in the zoo, fierce cheetah mum Kinky Tail faced health worries but the team sprang into action and quickly diagnosed the problem.
And Asian short-clawed otters Annie and Wallace adjusted to the pressures of becoming first-time parents to no less than five adorable pups.
Everyone loves an underdog, and Annie and Wallace’s runt of the litter Bo took on that mantle for the episode as he competed for food as well as his parents’ affections.
The next episode will air on Channel 4 at 8pm on Tuesday, March 21.
