Notes
Flying monkeys live together in structured communities, having discovered that organization brings them strength against those who would harm them. This strength results from the abilities to store food and share tasks. The groupings of flying monkeys, often referred to as "gathers", consist of extended families. Scientists have not determined at this juncture whether the families are structured in a matriarchal or in a patriarchal hierarchy, and some have suggested that both occur at different times during the year's seasonal cycles. A typical flying monkey gather covers three or four generations and extends outwardly to third cousins. Every score of years or so, a growing and healthy gather will schism, often after a food source becomes scarce. The schisms are typically followed by a period in which flying monkey populations spread out and their attacks become more fierce as they search desperately for food. Many remember the numerous schisms that occurred back in 1982 throughout the United States. This came after the a sudden decline in the number of weekend joggers following the end of the great running boom through the 1970s. Many gathers that had grown large and fat from hunting the runners found themselves without sustenance and so they divided and spread to varied lands in search of new food sources. Many gathers did not survive that period and many innocent animals and runners became victim to their desperation. Some scientists predict that there will be another period of schism within the coming decade. The country-wide droughts and recent reduction in flying monkey sightings combined with deer killings seems to bear this out.