Baboons, Voltaire & human persecution

Written by Alexandra Talbot
In Swahili, the baboon is called "Nyani." Indigenous to Africa, and southwestern Arabia, baboons are an intelligent, wily, and social species that can live up to 30 years - except when they are preyed upon by man. Though their being hunted by leopards and cheetahs lessens their life's expectancy, it is not the same as man's hunting them for sport; their being poisoned by local farmers; and their being captured and "shipped" to laboratories for research - research that is inexcusable and indecent in its cruelty.

Omnivorous
Baboons are an omnivorous species and among the largest monkeys worldwide. They are more grounded - literally - in their daily lives though they go climbing when they want or need to. They are mainly vegetarians and enjoy fibrous foods such as fruits, seeds, and roots; but they also diet on birds, young sheep and reptiles amongst other meats.

Baboon species
The Chacma, Olive, Yellow and Guinea baboons - four of their five species - are collectively called savanna baboons because of their preference for drier environs. They live in "troops" with their numbers ranging into the hundreds at times. Their intelligence is evident in the hierarchal societies of their troops. Like the males of most species, the male baboon is testosterone driven and their physical prowess is used to combat rivalry; and like the middle class of most familial societies, typical troop members regularly tend to the overall physical care of one another.

Hamadryas
Their fifth species, known as the Hamadryas baboon, are hill dwellers on the African and Arabian Red Sea coasts. They are inclined to scatter and rummage for food during the daylight hours and regroup in smaller numbers for the nights.

They travel in ‘caravans'; they are creatures of specific habitats and when moving to a new "residential" site they do so in groups. The females and youngsters take their lead from their patriarchal males, and are followed by the remaining males. The patriarchal baboons make the major decisions regarding travel plans, meals, and their sleeping sites on higher ground or in treetops for nighttime shelter; and, they enjoin their troops in defensive strategies necessary for protection. Patriarchal baboons are very territorial and can be highly intimidating when safeguarding their troops against potential threats. They are held in "baboonesque" esteem and enjoy the comforts of the hierarchal station they maintain: prime choice in their meals; and attendant grooming and cleaning by their minions.

Baboons live in tight knit family groups. Credit Wildlife Extra

Baboon dialects & gestures
They relate to one another vocally and have more than ten communicative "dialects:" screams, grunts, and barks each of which is customized to a given situation. For example, a really clamorous bark can warn of impending danger. They also communicate physically with such gestures as smacking their lips, raising their eyebrows, and shrugging their shoulders. Bearing their teeth can serve as a warning of possible danger or a warning for mind your manners or watch out; and grinning is used as an expression of apology.

Breeding
Female baboons interact sexually at five years old whereas their male counterparts do so at eight years old. A mother baboon is pregnant for six months and bears only one baby. Females stay with their familial troops throughout their lifetime. Males, however, most often join other troops at around four years old.

Human persecution
Like any parent, they have an inherent love for their babies, for their troops, as we have for our children, our families. They structure their lives for survival: they take care of each other as we do within our families, our communities. They feel pain and bleed as you and I do. So how can we, as the highest echelon of a living species, and in open conscience, fail to, or perhaps even worse neglect to, prevent man's animalistic hunting of these creatures, the insufferable poisoning of them by farmers, and the frightening and painful experimentation - or in more socially acceptable terms "research" - they suffer at our hands.

Their facial expressions can be sympathetic and almost docile at times, but they can be equally vicious and feral. Like any homogenous species, baboons establish societies - troops - and more often than not live - thrive - within them. They may be an unlikely dance partner, but they are, without question, a partner in the wilds of their habitats and natural surroundings - their ecological landscape.

Voltaire said, "People must have renounced ..... all natural intelligence to dare to advance that animals are but animated machines ..... such people can never have observed with attention the character of animals, not to have distinguished among them the different voices of need, of suffering, of joy, of pain, of love, of anger, and of all their affections. It would be very strange that they should express so well what they could not feel."

Have we travelled so far away from ourselves that what Voltaire said more than 200 years ago has as much veracity today as it did when he spoke those words.