Huspalim (hoos-pahl-im)

Huspalim

Huspalim were an ape-like species with large craniums. They were the only ape species that were restricted in their range to subtropical jungles. A huspalim’s arms were longer than its legs. The male common huspalim stood up to 1.2 m (3.9 ft) high. Male adult wild huspalim weighed between 40 and 60 kg with females weighing between 27 and 50 kg. When extended, the common huspalim’s long arms spanned one and a half times the body’s height. The female was slightly shorter and thinner than the male but had longer limbs. In trees, both genders climbed with their long, powerful arms; on the ground, huspalim usually knuckle-walked, or walked on all fours, clenching their fists and supporting themselves on the knuckles.

Huspalims lived in large multi-male and multi-female social groups, which were called communities. Within a community, the position of an individual and the influence the individual has on others dictated a definite social hierarchy. Huspalims lived in a leaner hierarchy wherein more than one individual was dominant enough to dominate other members of lower rank. Typically, a dominant male was referred to as the alpha male. The alpha male was the highest-ranking male that controlled the group and maintains order during disputes. In huspalim society, the ‘dominant male’ sometimes was not the largest or strongest male but rather the most manipulative and political male that could influence the goings-on within a group. Male huspalim typically attained dominance by cultivating allies who supported that individual during future ambitions for power. The alpha male regularly displayed by puffing his normally slim red coat up to increase view size and charge to seem as threatening and as powerful as possible; this behavior served to intimidate other members and thereby maintain power and authority, and it was fundamental to the alpha male’s holding on to his status. Lower-ranking huspalims would show respect by submissively gesturing in body language or reaching out their hands while grunting. Female huspalims would show deference to the alpha male by presenting their hindquarters.