Relationships are dynamic

I suppose it is inevitable that during the years of bloging the activity in our center that I should occasionally repeat myself. Ours is a dynamic society, where the relationships between monkeys can change. Just as when we at first believed that the friendship between Schatov and Emma was permanent, she changed that by rejected him. The truth is that we chose Emma and Schatov’s relationship. Finally they gave their judgment on our opinion. This time Lala has had a choice and she has chosen Schatov. They spend many hours together grooming and Maniña has been rejected. Yesterday he had a bad day. Realizing that Lala wanted to be alone with Schatov, we attempted to introduce MonaLisa to Maniña in a neutral enclosure. That is to say that the enclosure was new to both, no one monkey could claim a territorial right to it.
At first she moved subtly in his direction, from where she could observe him. Finally she approached him directly in a very aggressive way. Puffed up and ready for attack. I terminated the interview.
I returned Maniña to his own enclosure, the one he shares with Lala and Schatov. Again he had a bad greeting. Lala behaved in the same way as MonaLisa, She attacked him and only my presence prevented an actual fight. The outcome is that they are now segregated with Schatov and Lala in one area and Maniña in another.
Is there an explanation? Maniña is a big, very masculine looking monkey Do the girls recognize that Maniña has been neutered? I am looking for an answer to this problem. For the time being Maniña is alone and that is not a good thing. He gets the consolation prize. He is allowed to stay overnight with me. We have several newcomers on the horizon and I am hoping that one of them might be a suitable companion for Maniña. There is a chance that Miss Billy will suit but she is still in treatment for her Rickets. So that will have to wait a while. Miss Billy has a very pronounce curvature of her backbone as well as other deformed bone structure although she is normal in every other way. She is a charming little lady. My opinion is that it would be unwise to allow her to become a mother. Perhaps Maniña is a blessing in disguise for her. We will see. In the meantime Maniña is getting a lot of attention from me.
Our photograph is Maniña with a branch of leaves