Thursday, July 18, 2019

BA and BOON

(by ANI...on assignment from Wild Writings Press...Planet Earth)

Animals should not require our permission to live on Earth.
Animals were given the right to to be here ~ long before we arrived.
(Douglas Williams)

They tremble in fear...they revel in joy...they recoil from pain.
They deserve compassion ~ (akin to human-kind.)
(Unknown author)

In the midst of creating novel writings about Animals, the Baboon is an 'animal of interest'.
It's enlightening to recognize personality traits between the Baboon and Human.

On Culture, Tosin Thomson states: Baboons who share personality traits, stick together.
Using a black and white photo (a head and shoulder profile of a Chacma Baboon atop a rock in Africa's Kruger National Park), Tosin writes: We think we are unique ~ and probably we are ~ we're smart, really smart. But what makes us doubly special is: 'Our Ability to Reason.'
In 1698, Edward Tyson, an English anatomist,
dissected a chimpanzee (his Pygmy) and found its vocal chords were comparable to those of humans. Tyson couldn't understand why it was ~ that apes with all the necessary machinery, couldn't speak!

REASON isn't something that can be bodily found ~ it's a spiritual essence. Reason, in some ways
reinforces the status of humans as the reasoning and speaking creature. Because of this 'status' humans have developed an arrogant attitude. We feel 'different' from the rest as though our 'branch from the tree of evolution' has been cut off: it's them or us!
.
New research by the University of Cambridge and the Zoological Society of London, shows that within large 'troops' (male and female) Chacma Baboons spend more time grooming those with similar characteristics to themselves.. associating those with similar age, dominance, social rank...even those with similar personality types. This type of behaviour is known as homophily or 'love of the same.'
The research team tracked the same 2 'baboon troops'
from dawn until dusk across Namibia's Tsaobis Nature Park over several months each year between 2009 and 2014 to monitor 'Social Network Structures.”
Dr. Alecia Carter of Departement of Zoology says: Chacma baboon males will often commit intanticide, killing the babes of rivals. Female baboons try to get around this by being 'promiscuous' as possible to confuse the paternal identity ~ so males find it harder to tell if they are killing a rival's offspring ~ or their own. Dr Carter added, Baboons also try to form bonds with particular males...in the hope they will protect their offspring...and let the babies forage in good places with them. But it's believed (Carter said) that the males tend to be fairly lazy.
Amd Boon tells us: “It's up to the babies to follow the males.”
Baboons who fail to exhibit moral behaviour ~ do not survive.
They wind up as 'meat' for the leopards.

Dr. Carter's Advice: “With strong connections to other humans:
explore new ideas...increase your knowledge...discover new opportunities!”
Chief executives, who themselves, own shares of their own
have no more feeling to the average stockholder company
than they do for baboons in Africa.” (C. T. Boone Pikers)

History and Hierarchy
Ancient Egyptians venerated Baboons, regarding them as 'gods. But baboons are considered primates that are closely related to us in their stress-inducing-environment. Robert Sapolsky, believes they are so similar to humans because they have almost no natural predators.
Low hierarchy individuals suffer the most elevated levels
of physical and psychological stress manifested by high blood pressure...suppression of immune systems...and high levels of stress hormones. It's also for baboons to decipher between a real menace (like a defying rival) and a neutral factor (like one baboon sleeping in an upper branch)
Ba,when questioned says, “The healthiest and most sociable are those of us who from birth, build up social and effective links which are strong and long-lasting. Our decisions depend upon our genetics.
.
Hierarchy is established by Power, Size and sharpness of the Fangs, Weight, Muscle Mass and also by Aggressiveness.. and the ability to form Alliances,” also stated Ba.
And to know when to stab a companion in the back.”

First Encounter
Several years ago, we drove in our family car to African Lion Safari in the Flamborough/Cambridge area. We read the signs: Stay in All Vehicles and Keep All Windows Up! Immediately inside the gates we were bombarded by what appeared to be 'a whole troop of baboons' with excited and low-pitch squeals...they were funny...they were crazy...they playfully cavorted (did these grey creatures) as they peered through the windshield (looking for hand-outs, I'm sure). One jumped my moon- roof...sitting like a statue...throughout our slow drive. (Since then, I”ve concluded: he was no doubt the dominate!
In the cool air, the others kept their bums warm from engine heat..
.awaiting the next vehicle for treats.

The African Lion Safari
is a Canadian owned business created in the name of conservation
by the late Colonel G.F. Dailey.
The park opened its gates to the public on August 22, 1969 with 40 lions in 3 reserves; today the park houses in excess of 1,000 animals comprised of over 100 species. Our manner of exhibiting animals is completely different from the traditional approach; that is the visitor is caged in the car...and the animals roam in 2 to 20 hectare (5 to 50-acre) reserves. The park has been successful in breeding 30 species that are considered endangered and 20 species considered threatened. The original idea of maintaining self-sustaining populations in decline, still remains Africa Lion Safari's priority!

The fallen of the Baboon into the river,
'tis the risen joy of the crocodile.
Though the crocodile becomes happy, he conceals his joy
until deploying the necessary deft and strength to capture of the Baboon.
(Ernest Agyemang Yeboah)

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The foregoing assembled by Merle Baird-Kerr...June 30, 2018

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