More Than One Best Friend
April 26, 2013 6:17 PM   Subscribe

 
Well don't that bugger all. Hunh. This clip seems like it's from a longer docmentary, I wonder what it's called.
posted by Diablevert at 6:27 PM on April 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


Uploaded on Aug 4, 2011

From the documentary "Animals Like Us"

posted by elizardbits at 6:28 PM on April 26, 2013 [3 favorites]


I was really doubting the "pets" assertion, watching that puppy get dragged down the rock hill by his tail. More like rag-doll toy. But by the end it sure does seem like they like each other. Very strange.
posted by vytae at 6:30 PM on April 26, 2013 [3 favorites]


This was one of the points I made in my comment that dogs will try to be pets to anything that will feed them.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 6:39 PM on April 26, 2013 [6 favorites]


The thing about dogs is they are loyal. They are loyal to sinner or saint, man or baboon.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 6:40 PM on April 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


good for them! hope it works out!
posted by es_de_bah at 6:51 PM on April 26, 2013


What do you call a group of baboons and dogs. It neither a troop nor a pack. It needs a new term.
posted by Ad hominem at 6:51 PM on April 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


What do you call a group of baboons and dogs.

I fought the urge to type "A Republican party" and lost.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 6:52 PM on April 26, 2013 [57 favorites]


I knew an old lady who wanted to raise dogs, but the upkeep was difficult so she started raising baboons to do that for her. The baboons were hard to control, so she brought in apes to control the baboons. The apes got to be difficult, so she got some cats, because apes are afraid of cats. The cats pissed all over, so she purchased some wolves. The wolves were dangerous, so she imported several grizzly bears.

No wait. I'm telling this wrong.

There was an old lady who purchased a bear.
Where came the bear? But then it was there.
She bought the bear to tame the wolf,
She bought the wolf to tame the cat,
She bought the cat to tame the ape,
She bought the ape to tame the baboon,
She bought the baboon to raise the dog.
I don't know why she raised the dog.

And not a frog.
posted by twoleftfeet at 6:55 PM on April 26, 2013 [12 favorites]


A frat?
posted by hoople at 6:55 PM on April 26, 2013 [4 favorites]


I fought the urge to type "A Republican party" and lost.

I feel like I accomplished something today just being a small part of that.

A frat?

They are getting better and better.

I'm going with A Reddit.

I only kid because I love.
posted by Ad hominem at 6:57 PM on April 26, 2013 [7 favorites]


A pack + a troupe will be a poupe.
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:04 PM on April 26, 2013 [3 favorites]


I imagine, whatever the collective noun, baboons will be conscientious cleaning up after their dogs than the people in my neighborhood. Baboons, after all, have some manners.
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:06 PM on April 26, 2013 [2 favorites]


A attempted to shame people in my neighborhood by attaching arrows to straws and then putting the straws into the poop. The arrow pointed at the poop and text on the arrow said "The work of a bad neighbor," like this.

It actually worked pretty well. The only downside was that I had to stick straws in poop.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 7:17 PM on April 26, 2013 [5 favorites]


What kind of animal drags a puppy away by its tail?
You are drunk, baboon, go home.*

*Unless you can do Magic Dance from Labyrinth, in which case, you may stay, because I would very much like to see a baboon dressed as David Bowie.
posted by Dr. Zira at 7:39 PM on April 26, 2013 [2 favorites]


The only downside was that I had to stick straws in poop.

Hey, no. That's what I call a poor man's chocolate shake!
posted by twoleftfeet at 7:40 PM on April 26, 2013


MetaFilter: a group of baboons and dogs.
posted by The Tensor at 7:48 PM on April 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


It's been a banner week for baboons behaving badly.
posted by ChuraChura at 7:59 PM on April 26, 2013 [2 favorites]


Hide your babies, here is a Baboon Goblin King.
posted by Dr. Zira at 8:42 PM on April 26, 2013


Wow, ChuraChura. To me that looks like three minutes and three seconds of guys very lucky to still be in possession of faces and extremities.
posted by oneironaut at 10:16 PM on April 26, 2013


Disturbing, fascinating, enlightening, "EVIL MOTHERFUCKING UGLY RED-ASSED PRIMATE".
posted by panaceanot at 10:47 PM on April 26, 2013


Did humans and dogs have to do the whole domestication project before the baboons started doing this or have our cousins been doing this for a much longer time?
posted by rdr at 11:31 PM on April 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


lucky to still be in possession of faces and extremities

baboon lucky it was a broom not boom stick
posted by stbalbach at 11:35 PM on April 26, 2013


Wow, Bunny. My big idea was toothpicks with a stylized, '50s-esque "Thanks!" sign. Glad to see someone implemented something like it!
posted by mph at 11:35 PM on April 26, 2013


Brutal baboon attacks raise concern
Experts have warned that urban development is increasingly encroaching on the natural habitat of baboons and that a lack of planning around baboons and their habits is causing an increase in the number of confrontations with humans.

They (primates) will take food wherever they can get it, and will go back to that place for more,"

"They become less afraid of humans and it lessens their wildness, which is when they cause problems."

Cape Nature baboon management team head Melikhaya Pantsi said it was important for people to be cautious when dealing with baboons.

"It is very rare that a baboon would attack a human being. They might jump on you to grab what they think is food, but they are generally not aggressive," he said.

But Graeme Young, conservationist at the Ndlambe conservation department in Port Alfred, said it was not unheard of for baboons to attack humans without provocation.

Sometimes older males were kicked out of their troop and became aggressive towards humans as they scavenged for food on their own, he said.

"We've had reports of an old male baboon that has spent up to three weeks a year disturbing residents in Port Alfred - running through gardens and rummaging through rubbish bins."

Jenny Trethowan, of Cape Town-based baboon monitoring project Baboon Matters, said attacks on humans were usually not the fault of the baboon.

"When you unpack the attack, usually the person has done something wrong."

Trethowan warned that the "exponential rate of urbanisation" was leading to urban development encroaching on the natural habitat of the baboons.

"Unless people make an effort to make their homes unattractive to baboons, we will encounter problems," she said.
posted by stbalbach at 11:53 PM on April 26, 2013


A disclaimer would have been nice. I thought I was going to be watching a video of baboons hugging cute puppies, sharing kisses and all. I did not expect a puppy being dragged around by its tail!
posted by cyml at 12:04 AM on April 27, 2013 [1 favorite]


Well, skip to 1:45 if you're likely to be squicked. This is pretty fascinating and I wonder what dog evolutionists think of it.
posted by dhartung at 12:16 AM on April 27, 2013


I always think of baboons like some kind of mafia henchmen. They can just be super bold and intimidating. If a baboon decides it wants something from you, don't argue. Give it to them. I had visitors who were charmed by how they hang around touristy areas stealing food. I'm like, "those baboons will fuck you up, no problem."
posted by Solon and Thanks at 12:17 AM on April 27, 2013 [3 favorites]


I always think of baboons like some kind of mafia henchmen.

I always think of mafia henchmen like some kind of baboons.

But they don't like that. Last time I made the comparison, two guys named Vinny showed up at my door. "Is twoleftfeet home?" they asked. My wife, who is pretty good at this and doesn't even know my internet moniker, replied "no".

The next morning I awoke to find the severed head of a horse in my bed. That's how I know my wife loves me, because severed horse head is my favorite breakfast food.
posted by twoleftfeet at 12:31 AM on April 27, 2013 [3 favorites]


There is a theory that dogs adopted humans long ago. We no longer needed our big noses (the dogs did our sniffing for us) and that left our mouth cavity free to develop speech. Intelligence followed. So dogs created humans. (Unfortunately the author of the Bible was dyslexic. Dog created man.)

Clearly they have seen the results and decided to try again. I for one welcome our new overlords.

As for the name for the new species, anybody who reads Marvel comics will already know:
Baboon + dog = badoon.
posted by EnterTheStory at 2:59 AM on April 27, 2013 [2 favorites]


I fought the urge to type "A Republican party" and lost.

No way. Any political party that was composed of half dogs would be awesome and I would be a card carrying member. Baboons, I don't know about.
posted by cairdeas at 4:31 AM on April 27, 2013 [4 favorites]


A attempted to shame people in my neighborhood by attaching arrows to straws and then putting the straws into the poop. The arrow pointed at the poop and text on the arrow said "The work of a bad neighbor," like this.

It actually worked pretty well. The only downside was that I had to stick straws in poop.



I wanted to do this in our neighborhood park!! I thought little flags that say "kids play here"

I love that that you actually did it!!!
posted by vitabellosi at 4:48 AM on April 27, 2013


A few years ago, I was in Lake Nakuru National Park in Kenya when we broke for lunch on Baboon Cliff, which had this delightful sign at our lunch spot. I was with a group of maybe 15 people, including my Swahili professor, our Maasai guide Ishmael, and the driver of our van. About 10 minutes into our bag lunch, a school bus full of Kenyan high school students drove up the road behind us. "Shit," said Ishmael. "The baboons are going to come soon. They know the students will give them food." And sure enough, they swarmed up the face of the cliff shortly thereafter. There were maybe 60 animals in that troop, from very small babies to Very Big Males, and the first round swiped the lunch bags and juice boxes from the group of us sitting at the top of the cliff, and proceeded to enjoy our chicken sandwiches and chocolate covered biscuits, and sit menacingly on the picnic table.

Ishmael told us to get in the van, but in his panic, my Swahili professor had gotten there first. He grew up in Central Kenya and when he was a very small boy, one of his jobs had been throwing rocks at baboons to keep them from crop raiding. This had apparently left quite an impression on him, and he was truly terrified of baboons (he'd been nervous from the instant he saw the sign, but Ishmael said we'd be fine). So he'd not only gotten into the van, but he'd locked all the doors in his panic. He got it together enough to unlock the doors while all the reasonable people on my trip were trying to get back into the van; meanwhile I was in primatology heaven with a goofy grin on my face because MONKEYS. Ishmael picked up a big stick and started swiping it at the closest baboons, the driver was throwing small rocks, and the Kenyan high school students were dying of laughter as the terrified tourists scattered. Of course, then they all had to dive onto their bus, too, because the baboons were coming for them next...

I thought it was great, but baboons concern me a lot more now than they used to. Of course, baboons aren't the only primates causing problems in terms of human-wildlife conflict. Urban monkeys are both a great example of the ingenuity of the primate order, and the general amount of havoc clever organisms can wreak on eachother.
posted by ChuraChura at 5:48 AM on April 27, 2013 [6 favorites]


Baboon Cliff at Lake Nakuru? That would be these folk
posted by devon at 6:39 AM on April 27, 2013 [1 favorite]


Does PETA know how these animals treat animals?
posted by pashdown at 7:09 AM on April 27, 2013 [2 favorites]


I never liked baboons.
posted by turgid dahlia 2 at 8:22 AM on April 27, 2013


Does PETA know how these animals treat animals?

Perhaps you could also tell us your opinions on bacon and how rare you enjoy your steaks?
posted by turgid dahlia 2 at 8:23 AM on April 27, 2013 [1 favorite]


It's not fun to watch the "acclimation period", but if you didn't have a house with doors you could lock, a yard with a fence or a leash, you'd probably have to do something like that to keep a dog as a pet, too.
posted by hambone at 9:25 AM on April 27, 2013 [1 favorite]


(There is a related video in the youtube sidebar of a baboon being stalked and eaten by a cheetah if anyone feels the need for vengeance.)
posted by elizardbits at 10:31 AM on April 27, 2013


So, this is how Planet of the Apes actually starts. huh.
posted by oddman at 2:33 PM on April 27, 2013 [1 favorite]


This is the first step. First, they domesticated dogs, then they develop complex language and tools, them a new primate rules the world.
posted by asnider at 3:56 PM on April 27, 2013


Well, we had a pretty good run, while it lasted.
posted by oddman at 5:00 PM on April 27, 2013 [1 favorite]


Meh, I'm more worried about cephalopods.
posted by Dr. Zira at 6:10 PM on April 27, 2013


Meh, I'm more worried about cephalopods.

They can only come on land for brief periods of time. We're safe...for now.
posted by asnider at 10:38 PM on April 27, 2013


It's cephalopods riding coconut crabs I'm worried about.
posted by panaceanot at 10:51 PM on April 27, 2013 [1 favorite]


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