Skip to main content

A Baboon Family

 


A Baboon Family

This baboon family makes me happy. The setting is peaceful, all four calmly sitting on a rock, at rest. Except for the baby looking directly at our game vehicle with curiosity, the other three's eyes gazing elsewhere.  Despite their sharp as daggers canine teeth, nut-crushing jaws, naughty opportunistic foraging of camper's food, and a hierarchy of dominating male bullies, baboons can be quiet and peaceful, going about their daily business in a well-defined social order. 


These old-world monkeys thrive in friend and family units; females form strong bonds to raise and protect the kids, forage for food, and stay loyal to the troop for their entire lives. Like human families, they comfort each other, play, and squabble but ultimately come together for the good of the community and protection from predators - for the most part.


Yes, there's a bit of infanticide by the males, beating females for the heck of it, violently tossing little ones to the side when they become annoying, and when it comes to food, it's every baboon for themself. There is no sharing—only survival.


When you think about it, every animal in the wild is a survivalist - not the Jeff Probst kind, there's no promise of a million dollars and fleeting fame, nor is there an evacuation helicopter ready should something go awry. So if a baboon messes up, runs too slowly, climbs a tree too lazily, or gets hurt, it quickly becomes a meal for prowling predators. It's the circle of life according to biology, or Elton John! Same concept!


Besides the big cats, hyenas, or crocs now and again, humans are the biggest threat to baboons' survival. Interestingly, humans have a genetic similarity of 94% to baboons, so killing them is kind of like killing ourselves. 


The mighty Homosapien, the biggest threat to baboons and humans alike!


#baboons #homosapiens #jeffprobst #survivalists #infanticide #eltonjohn #circleoflife #writing #personalessay #lastmonthsinsouthafrica #everybaboonforthemself

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Golden Glow of the Bush

  The Golden Glow of the Bush I have seen some glorious skies during my travels around the world, from the smog-induced fluorescent sunsets in Moscow to the burning red horizon in Lake Tahoe. Looking up toward the heavens at dusk is my favorite time of day.  But, nowhere have I ever been so mesmerized by the setting sun than in the bush. Why? Because the light the fading sun casts on the landscape is like no other. Call it the golden hour or the magic hour, or the hour when a quiet hush blankets the land as day turns to night. Birds sing their bedtime songs, jackals practice their forlorn calls, and predators wake, yawning widely, preparing for the hunt. The fading light signals transformation from the brightness to darkness, from things seen to those unseen.  Lazy, sleeping lions transform from looking like cuddly stuffed animals to ferocious stalkers of anything that moves. Hunger calls them to action, stealthy and relentless in their pursuit. Owls waken, looking for bu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Super Mom

  Super Mom   Super Mom    Seeing a coalition of eight cheetahs in the bush is more than a lucky sighting; it is rare and magical. What's even crazier is that my friends and I had already seen this family many times during the year and a half before taking this photo. Here's their story. Two cheetah sisters had two litters around the same time. Sister one had six cubs, and sister two or three cubs. For whatever unexplainable reason, one of sister two's cubs migrated to sister one's family, making her the mother of seven. She quickly acquired the moniker of Super Mom by all the rangers in the park. One mom, seven cubs. She had to chase them all around when they were babies, feed them (they have about a 58% success rate when chasing down a meal), teach them the ways of the bush, and most of all, keep them safe. Whenever we saw them, they were healthy, playful, and did whatever mom told them to do - move, rest, get down from a tree, get out of the road, stay quiet! We g...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ranger Dean

  This young man is Dean, and he is a ranger at Tandala Trail Camp in the Dinokeng Reserve. Dean is not just any ranger; he is my favorite ranger. At 25, his wealth of knowledge about bush flora and fauna equals any seasoned ranger I have gone with to the bush. In this photo, Dean hopped out of the vehicle to explain why elephants eat the bark of certain trees. It is because the bark of some trees is sweet and delicious. Dean also explained that the damage done to the trees will kill them unless the ellies only tear the bark from one side. If there is bark left on one side, the tree can mend itself, basically grow back the bark that acts as a shield against destructive weather and invading insects.   There are many things that I appreciate about Dean. His ability to identify birds by their call, tracking skills, and knowledge of the flora are remarkable. But the best thing is that he won’t carry a gun. Instead, he has a long stick that can help control a situation if an a...
Post a Comment
Read more