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The Mellow Baboon
obehave writes " You've seen life in a baboon troop on TV: the epitome of nasty, brutish,
and short. So what happens when a baboon troop loses its nastiest, most
brutish members?
PLoS Biology,
an open-access science journal,
reports the curious story of a baboon troop which lost the
nastiest half of its male population through natural causes.
The troop became different and the difference persisted through
a generational change.
Here's the
synopsis,
the
full article,
and a
commentary."
New baboon tribe moves in next door which is composed of more violent members, which eventually forces our friendly baboon tribe to become more violent, or be wiped out.
Then we are back to the initial position again.
Of course this was the position of many Reaganites in the 1980s that the USA had gone soft on the Soviet Union, and was therefore in more danger.
we^H^Hthey now have a justification for the creation of a master aryan baboon race.
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Your reality is lies and balderdash and I'm delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever. - Baron Munchausen
I'd be a lot more relaxed if there were 50% as many men where I lived, too. Unclear whether that's still the case after their "generational change."
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
Nah; the trolls are busy working on comparisons with the current American administration, and wondering how to best phrase the suggestion that a similar experiment be tried in November.
...
Somebody's gotta have a way of phrasing this so it gets a +5 funny mod.
Maybe I'll go off and work on it
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
Prevent email address forgery. Publish SPF records for y
Suddenly you got 1 big friendly supportive of each other group who are not constantly stressed and so rested for any trouble and 1 small tribe with no females and constant infighting.
I remember another documentary on an ape troop. It was ruled by a male and a luitenant in a laid back kind of way. He took the top females his luitenant the lower ranking. He was basically a nice old guy. Also old but because he had a luitenant with everything to lose and nothing to gain and the support of the females he held out until finally he was overthrown by a new aggressive male.
The new male had no backing (was in fact constantly fighting with the other hopefulls) and no tact. He raped (compared to the old ruler) the females and threatned their offsping (the old males and his luitenant offspring). It didn't take long for him to end up severly wounded when the females decided enough was enough and ganged up on him. With no aid and the females protecting their young against him he barely got away with his life.
The end result was that the former luitenant now became the leader who continuened the laid back peacefull method. I think the old leader became his luitenant but note sure.
As you can tell I am not really a story teller but it did show clearly that this group choose the softer option. Not exactly democracy but certainly a peasant revolt took place here.
People put up with a lot until they come to the point where they got nothing to loose and everything to gain. Apes do migrate between groups if the group they are in becomes to dangerous for them. There are documented cases of "good" ape leaders protecting the weakest of their troop from the middle ranking. This could be seen as making sure that while their must be a pecking order you also can not afford to loose members at the bottom for fear that one day the top is the bottom.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Baboons are far better predators then chimps. Basically baboons are a top predator. Meaning they eat and are not eaten.
Chimps are predators as well but more human. Meaning a while group of chimps can catch one small monkey but they do it by teamwork.
If you are in africa and you encounter a chimp the chimp will run. if you are in africa and you encounter a baboon you better hope it ain't hungry or pissed off.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
For most animal species, behavioral attributes are largely the product of interactions between genes and environment, with behavioral patterns preserved by natural selection. Birds, for example, know instinctively what type of nest to build for their offspring; salamanders don't need lessons to swim. But when it comes to primates--including humans--a good deal of behavior is learned. Primates exhibit a wide range of behaviors, not just among species but also among populations and even individuals. Yet the nature versus nurture debate still rages, particularly when it comes to understanding the roots of aggression. While bonobos are famous for using sex to resolve disputes, aggression is far more common in most primate species--again humans included. Our closest relative, the chimpanzee, has a reputation for being among the most belligerent, with rhesus monkeys and baboons not far behind. For many of these species, bouts of violence are often followed by gestures of reconciliation, such as grooming or, in the case of chimps, kissing. Since most primates live in social groups, it may be that such conciliatory measures serve to maintain some semblance of social structure, offsetting the disruptive effects of aggression. (To learn more about primate behavior and aggression, see the primer by Frans de Waal in this issue [DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0020101].)
In baboons, "grooming" is a socially rewarding behavior. (Photograph, with permission, by Robert Sapolsky)
Primatologists characterize these behavioral differences as "cultural" traits, since they arise independent of genetic or environmental factors and are not only shared by a population (though not necessarily a species) but are also passed on to succeeding generations. Such cultural traditions have been documented in African chimp populations, which display over 39 behaviors related to "technology" (such as using stones to crack nuts), grooming, and courtship. While most of these cases involve either tools, foraging, or communication, Robert Sapolsky and Lisa Share report evidence of a higher order cultural tradition in wild baboons in Kenya. Rooted in field observations of a group of olive baboons (called the Forest Troop) since 1978, Sapolsky and Share document the emergence of a unique culture affecting the "overall structure and social atmosphere" of the troop.
In his book A Primate's Memoir, Sapolsky studied the activities and lifestyle of the Forest Troop to explore the relationship between stress and disease. In typical baboon fashion, the males behaved badly, angling either to assume or maintain dominance with higher ranking males or engaging in bloody battles with lower ranking males, which often tried to overthrow the top baboon by striking tentative alliances with fellow underlings. Females were often harassed and attacked. Internecine feuds were routine. Through a heartbreaking twist of fate, the most aggressive males in the Forest Troop were wiped out. The males, which had taken to foraging in an open garbage pit adjacent to a tourist lodge, had contracted bovine tuberculosis, and most died between 1983 and 1986. Their deaths drastically changed the gender composition of the troop, more than doubling the ratio of females to males, and by 1986 troop behavior had changed considerably as well; males were significantly less aggressive.
After the deaths, Sapolsky stopped observing the Forest Troop until 1993. Surprisingly, even though no adult males from the 1983-1986 period remained in the Forest Troop in 1993 (males migrate after puberty), the new males exhibited the less aggressive behavior of their predecessors. Around this time, Sapolsky and Share also began observing another troop, called the Talek Troop. The Talek Troop, along with the pre-TB Forest Troop, served as controls for comparing the behavior of the post-1993 Forest Troop. The authors found that while in some respects male to male dominance behaviors and patterns of aggression were similar in both the Forest and control troops, there were differences that significantly
"We are the first generation to influence the climate and the last generation to escape the consequences." - John McCain
Sands of the Kalahari
gewg_
When my beautiful, brilliant, charming daughter
was born, I finally realized the meaning of
Hobbes' phrase "nasty, brutish, and short".
Of course she wasn't beautiful at the start.
She was bloody, slimy, and looked like Winston
Churchill. But I'm told they all do.
-I like my women like I like my tea: green-
Humans -> Reality
...but nice try. ;-)
as
Klingons -> Fiction
Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges.
I, for one, welcome our new peaceful baboon overlords.
It's the evolution of the metrosexual!
New baboon tribe moves in next door which is composed of more violent members, which eventually forces our friendly baboon tribe to become more violent, or be wiped out.
What will really happen is that, if they can afford it, the non-violent baboons will move to the suburbs.
Semi-scientific support for mass exterminating jerks.