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Worst gang-like behavior of animals I every saw was, like, a decade ago at the Cape Point parking lot in South Africa. This a relatively large lot (being at th
by PreInternet01 2y ago
Worst gang-like behavior of animals I every saw was, like, a decade ago at the Cape Point parking lot in South Africa.
This a relatively large lot (being at the round-turn point of a one-way route), with both personal vehicles and tour busses coming and going. There are also a lot of baboons. On the narrow-ish mountain road up and down, these already pester the vehicles every way they can, but once parked, it's when things get truly special, especially for the tour busses.
First, the baboon females parade past a bus, with infants on their back. The tourists are delighted by this, and rush out with their cameras. Then, the females retreat into the bushes, which further distracts the humans.
Then, the males, which have been hiding in the nearby trees, descend upon the bus, and absolutely ransack it. Everything that can be taken (and that's mostly bags and coats) gets dragged into the trees. Then, they triumphantly go through the loot, redistribute anything that's edible or otherwise interesting, and toss the rest.
It's scary how well these animals instinctively understand the way we behave...
- pavel_lishin 2y agoIt may not be instinctive, but learned behavior. They're not dumb, they're apes, not that far from the evolutionary tree from us. Hell, my cat knows when it's time to eat.
- PreInternet01 2y ago"Leaned behavior" to me means that they previously saw other, non-baboon, groups rob tourists in the same way, which seems unlikely? This feels more like a situation where the baboons realized that "these humans have yummy stuff" followed by "hey, and this is how we can distract them in order to grab it" But, well, semantics...
- pavel_lishin 2y ago> "Leaned behavior" to me means that they previously saw other, non-baboon, groups rob tourists in the same way, which seems unlikely? It might mean that to you, but that's absolutely not what I meant to convey.
- PreInternet01 2y agoThanks for your detailed explanation of where I went wrong. Correcting non-native speakers on their mis-use of fringe vocabulary sure feels good, doesn't it?
- isoprophlex 2y ago+1 I was never as scared of wildlife in my life, as one time in a Malaysian tourist trap that housed a gang of baboons. Jesus, they were ferocious. Once the mood changed, there was no stopping them.
- kylecazar 2y agoAs soon as I read South Africa I knew this was headed towards baboons. I had very similar experiences with them in the mountains around Cape Town when I was there...it's definitely some sort of uncanny valley watching them operate. They understand when tourists mock them, taunting is taken almost as an insult, and as you said -- their criminal enterprises are very sophisticated.
- kennethrc 2y agoThis "keeps" happening, yet no-one's posted up a simple sign?
- PreInternet01 2y agoThere are definitely signs: https://www.naturepl.com/stock-photo-baboon-warning-sign-cape-point-table-mountain-national-park-cape-town-nature-image01417752.html https://www.naturepl.com/stock-photo-baboon-warning-sign-cap... But, as with most situations, "let's put up a sign" somehow didn't resolve the issue...
- kennethrc 2y agoI'd think it needs more detail, though?
- jareklupinski 2y ago> yet no-one's posted up a simple sign? p.sure baboons can't read signs...