Hulu had a 13-episode series on a macaque gang in India, told like a docu-drama:
http://www.hulu.com/rebel-monkeys
The top monkey has it real rough. His duties include:
- know everyone in the gang and keep an eye on them
- lead the gang to sufficient food throughout the week
- stop fights in the gang
- lead the fight when another gang gets in their territory
- fight the #2 guy in his gang because the #2 guy is always trying to knock him out of #1 spot
- be smooth with the females so they accept him
Then die in a couple years, #1 rarely holds on for longer than that. If he doesn't do those things, the gang loses confidence in him and runs away.
I'm sure quite a bit of the series was clever editing and some story-telling, but still very interesting and could be close to the real story.