Guardians of the Wild (2017) s02e02 Episode Script

1
NARRATOR: In Kasanka National
Park in Zambia lives a troop of
baboons like no other.
They are Kinda baboons,
a species only recently
identified and still
little-understood.
Living alongside them are
four dedicated researchers
whose mission is to uncover
the secrets of these remarkable
monkeys.
This is a real-life soap opera
with its ups and downs
Heroes, villains.
And love stories.
And the team is with its
characters every step of the
way.
[CHITTERING]
[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]
[CHITTERING]
Powerfully built with long
dog-like snouts and large
formidable teeth,
baboons are often
thought of as aggressive.
They are some of the largest
and most ill-tempered monkeys
in the world.
[AGGRESSIVELY CHITTERING]
The five most well-known
species, including these yellow
baboons,
are spread across
Africa and Arabia.
Their brawls are
notoriously vicious.
But in Kasanka National Park
in central Zambia, there's a
sixth species,
the Kinda baboon.
Until a few years ago, it was
thought to be a subspecies of
the yellow baboon.
It's now been classified
as a species in its own right
and, as such, is almost
completely unstudied.
Kinda baboons are more slender
than their yellow cousins
and have flatter faces.
They are also furrier and
their hair has a distinctive
soft, silky texture.
But it's their chilled-out
behaviour that really sets them
apart.
Males seem to have
abandoned aggression
for an altogether more
affable approach to life.
Far more interested in
friendship than fighting,
they buck the baboon trend.
Kindas really do
seem to be kinder.
But much about these
peace-loving primates is still a
mystery.
American biologist, Anna Weyher,
is determined to change that.
She's spent the last
six years getting to know
one particular troop
of Kinda baboons.
ANNA WEYHER: In the
beginning, I was doing things
Pretending I was eating
grass, not paying attention,
I would groom
my fleas by myself.
So they didn't think I was
looking at them directly,
but acting sort of like
them, doing similar things,
just to gain their trust, and
for them to see how, erm
I was not that
different from them.
NARRATOR: Looking at fur
patterns, body shapes, and
mannerisms,
has helped Anna and her
team identify over 60 members
of a troop.
But to make studying them
easier, individuals need names.
ANNA: I decided that I would
name them after musicians.
When a mother, say Ella,
every infant she gives birth to,
the name will start with an "E".
So Ella has Elvis. Ella
has Elton. Ella has Eminem.
All named after musicians.
NARRATOR: These musical monkeys
all have distinct personalities.
Garfunkel is a grumpy
and uneasy alpha male.
His second-in-command,
Simon, is more laid-back.
Among the females, taciturn
Ella is outranked by headstrong
Madonna.
Even the newest additions
to the troop are already
displaying different
characteristics.
Baby Eminem is bold and curious.
Little Israel is more
cautious and reserved.
By living alongside them
Anna and her team hope to
understand more about how
these characters are connected
to each other,
and why they behave
the way they do.
Life in Kinda Camp starts early.
It's 20 past 5:00 and the sun
has only just crept above the
horizon.
Baboons get up before dawn
and are already looking
for breakfast by sunrise.
The team needs to move
quickly if they're to catch up.
ANNA: These are just
fresh tracks from now, yeah?
MAN: Yes.
ANNA: You can
tell that they're fresh.
OK, so. We're going
that way. All right.
NARRATOR: Fresh tracks tell
them in which direction the
baboons are moving.
Anna finds the troop's
genial deputy leader.
ANNA: This is Simon. He's
our second-ranking male.
NARRATOR: His easygoing nature
has made him something
of a favourite with the team.
ANNA: He's a little
bit lazy sometimes.
He will sit at the
base of a tree
where one of his female friends
will be up eating, right now,
it's Madonna,
and wait as she
messily drops pods.
That way, he doesn't
have to climb the tree.
NARRATOR: Simon and Madonna are
spending a lot more time
together
and Anna is keen
to keep tabs on them.
ANNA: He's very diligent
about being near his females and
grooming them.
Madonna is swelling right now.
So by sitting at the base of
the tree where she's feeding,
he can make sure when she
comes down that he's with her.
NARRATOR: The
pink sexual swelling
around the buttocks
signals a female will soon be
in estrus and ready for mating.
Simon needs to stay close to
Madonna to make sure he's first
to mate
with her when the time comes.
Anna has discovered that,
unlike other baboons, Kindas
form long-term
male-female relationships.
By watching Simon and Madonna,
she can see just how
these connections begin.
But the baboons have something
else to offer Anna's project
Erm, he's just taking a
rest but often times when they
sit on, erm,
trees or logs like this,
it's a good chance to
get a faecal sample.
NARRATOR: Faecal-sampling,
that's "poo-collecting" to the
uninitiated,
is an important aspect
of the team's work.
Each sample contains a
wealth of genetic information.
ANNA: We see an
individual we know
drop a sample for us,
we can then go pick it up
and we put it in a certain
solution that preserves the DNA.
I take it all back to the
United States where I then
We're able to do the proper
analysis and see who's related
to whom.
NARRATOR: Anna's dream is to
one day build a genetic database
of this baboon troop,
a full family tree.
Along with her
behavioural observations,
she's gaining unprecedented
insight into the lives of Kinda
baboons.
She needs several samples
from each member of the troop.
And in the dense bush you
sometimes need eagle eyes
to spot when a baboon
does the business.
Yes. Marley, Kennedy.
Got a faecal sample.
MAN: Oh, great.
NARRATOR: Nice and fresh.
And a positive ID.
The researchers must
be 100% sure they know
which individual
provides each sample.
ANNA: Just a small,
tiny bit of it is all we need.
It's super important
because it gives us the actual
wider picture
of what the things that we
think are happening in the group
from watching the behaviour.
Now we can do non-invasive
sampling and get genetics from
this.
I don't have to draw
blood from my animal,
I just can take a tiny bit
of it and put it in a tube.
Take it back home
and get it tested.
Oh, perfect. Right to the line.
NARRATOR: It's easy
to see whose mum is who.
Infants don't let go of their
mothers' bellies for the first
two weeks of life,
and continue to be carried
and cuddled by them for six or
eight months.
[CHITTERING]
Identifying dads
is a bit trickier.
ANNA: We have so many ideas
and thoughts of who is the dad
of which infant
from behaviour, but you
know, it can go wrong.
We can have assumptions
that can be quite different from
what's actually
going on There might be, erm,
some sneaky mating on
the side that we haven't seen.
NARRATOR: Anna's great poo
collection will eventually give
them
definitive answers to those
nagging paternity questions.
Anna has recruited Scottish
primatologist Rachel Sassoon
to help her run the
Kinda baboon study.
Both rely on the skills of
local scout Marley who over the
past five years
has developed superhuman
abilities to identify each
baboon on sight.
When I first started, it
was Marley that told me all the
individuals.
Who was who and
what to look out for.
MARLEY: I see
what others don't see.
Baboons, they are like humans.
They have markings,
others have big eyes,
others have round ears.
There are a lot of things
to identify baboons.
They are totally
different from each other.
NARRATOR: Marley and
fellow field researcher Kennedy
are well-known locally for
their work on the project.
We call, Marley and
Kennedy, we call them kolwe
and kolwe is "baboon" in Bemba.
And that's what they
call Marley and Kennedy.
Marley also says to me,
and he's said it many times,
"One day I will learn baboon and
then I will know what they are
saying to each other."
NARRATOR: Every day the team
spends dawn till dusk with the
troop
as they feed, groom and play.
They know these
baboons like friends.
But there are some new
faces to get acquainted with.
It's September, the peak of
the birthing season for Kinda
baboons.
Even Kinda babies are
different, many are born
with a bright white natal coat.
They're black in
other baboon species.
Their white hair is very
conspicuous which Anna believes
makes them irresistible
to other baboons.
It's an adaptation thought
to elicit more cuddles.
Eminem, one of this year's
newborns, is now three weeks
old.
His mum, Ella, sits
with another female.
Baboon troops have a hierarchy.
Ella and this female
are both in the middle.
Kinda baboons will often let
others of similar ranks play
with their babies.
Young female Rihanna, on the
right, is keen to join in.
But she ranks much lower than
Ella and her friend, and is not
welcome.
Kinda society avoids
violent confrontation,
but they still have a
strict pecking order.
The snub is subtle but distinct.
By observing these understated
interactions the team
is beginning to unlock
the baboons' secret lives.
Hierarchy is everything.
Females born in to the troop
remain for their whole lives.
They receive their rank at
birth and it never changes.
But males move between troops
and can improve their social
status.
This is Kennedy. He's our
lowest-ranking male, mating
male,
and he's here
sitting in the shade,
quite apart from
the rest of the group,
but still, he can
see what's going on.
Er, it gives him a chance to
Be with the group but he's
not quite completely accepted in
yet.
NARRATOR: Newcomers like Kennedy
start at the bottom
of the ladder.
ANNA: Males come from
other groups when immature.
And then they join groups
where they're not related to any
of the females.
We have no idea what group he
came from. He just showed up one
day.
NARRATOR: In Kinda
society males need patience.
It could take months
for Kennedy to be fully
accepted into the troop.
[CHITTERING]
For now, as a low ranker,
and without friends or females,
Kennedy must groom himself.
It's getting late in the day.
Sunset is only an hour away
and the baboons are starting
to think about finding a safe
place to spend the night.
This acacia is not
an ideal roost tree.
The small leaves
offer little cover
and leave anything in
the branches exposed.
But it does have one advantage.
Acacia trees have sweet
sap, a bit like maple syrup.
By biting the bark, the
baboons get a nutritious snack
before bedtime.
The acacia is next door to a
large ebony tree with dense
cover,
much safer for
spending the night.
But this is the time
leopards begin to hunt.
Dropping to the ground
leaves them vulnerable to attack
so the baboons take a shortcut.
Mum, Ella, must get baby
Eminem safely across the gap. He
holds on tight.
Simon watches as
the rest of troop cross.
Anna's research has shown
that of all baboon species,
Kindas are the most
at home in the trees.
[CHITTERING]
It's another trait that sets
them apart from their cousins.
But some have spent too
long drinking acacia sap.
ANNA: They were late
to come into their roosts.
So it's dark now and
they can't see one another.
NARRATOR: Their vision is
much like ours and making the
jump when you can't see
is a whole different ball game.
ANNA: The sound
we're hearing, it's Fleet.
He's too scared to jump
without Freda, his mum.
NARRATOR: Mum
Freda has already crossed.
Juvenile Fleet now has to
make the jump in the dark,
without his mum's guidance.
ANNA: This is quite
stressful to watch.
[FLEET SCREECHES]
He's made it.
NARRATOR: Next morning the
team's at the roost site before
dawn.
Kasanka can get cold
at this time of year.
It's only eight degrees
when the baboons wake up.
Kinda have longer hair than
their yellow baboon cousins.
But they also have another
way of getting warmed up for the
day ahead.
[MARLEY SPEAKING]
NARRATOR: Play not only helps
them to warm up but builds their
important social bonds.
Seeing who plays with whom is
another clue to Kinda baboon
cohesiveness.
[CHITTERING PLAYFULLY]
Once they're warmed up
the troop is soon off foraging.
As the team tries to catch
up, they're in for a shock.
For some, baboons
represent not family but food.
Kasanka is
surrounded by villages.
So people, they
come here to hunt.
To hunt baboons with the dogs.
Sometimes baboons are
being caught in wire snares.
They were eating eggs,
but it's not hot at all.
[MARLEY SPEAKING]
ANNA: OK.
ANNA: Any other signs? Should
we check for some snares?
NARRATOR: Marley finds a
sinister sign that confirms this
is a poacher's camp.
NARRATOR: The puku skull has
been left as a marker to help
poachers
find their way
back to their camp.
Papa inform. Papa inform.
We have come across a new
campsite for poachers, over.
NARRATOR: Marley and Kennedy
are armed, and as well as
studying the baboons,
they are here to
help protect them.
Had some really hard
experiences with, you know,
a male that we had I
had in the beginning
disappeared, and erm
He was poached and it
was very, very distressing.
Very upsetting.
We all find that quite hard.
NARRATOR: With the poaching
camp reported to the National
Park authorities,
the team can continue
its search for the troop.
They don't have to go far.
Thankfully the whole
family is accounted for.
What the baboons seemed
to have done yesterday,
is moved out of their core
range, which is a much safer
area for them.
In the woodland we're in today
there's always a lot
of poaching activity.
NARRATOR: It's the height of the
dry season in central Zambia,
the baboons'
toughest time of year.
Food is scarce and the troop
is forced to expand its range to
gather enough to eat.
That can take them closer
to villages. Closer to danger.
ANNA: I find it
extremely frustrating
that the poachers are here and
the baboons have to come here.
It's such an unsafe area but,
you know, they have to risk it
to continue to feed.
NARRATOR: For now Simon,
Madonna and the rest of the
troop seem safe
but the team will
be on red-alert.
The large grass plains that
border Kasanka's woodlands are
dotted with oases of trees
filled with nutritious
seed pods.
They're a good protein
source at this time of year,
but first, the baboons
have to get to them.
Keeping everyone
in sight is important.
Baboons' close-set eyes give
them good binocular vision,
perfect for seeing each
other from a distance.
But in the long grass it's
not so easy when you're only
half a meter tall.
The Kinda have
a strategy to cope.
It might look amusing but
this spy-hopping behaviour
helps them stay safe.
Getting separated from the
troop is bad news and jumping
like this is a great way
to keep an eye on everyone.
Safely across, Simon and the
rest of the troop enjoy a feast.
The pods are as
tough as old leather.
But with their huge canine
teeth and powerful jaws
the troop can get
through hundreds in a day.
Just like hamsters, Kinda
baboons can store food inside
cheek pouches
which hold as much
as their stomachs.
The Kinda supersize their
takeout meals whenever they get
the chance.
As the day heats up feeding
gives way to grooming.
It's a good way to remove
parasites and keep fur clean,
but grooming also plays
a far more important role.
It's one of the key ways
baboons maintain hierarchy and
grow new friendships.
Being allowed to groom
someone of a higher social
status is quite an honour.
Simon is only interested in
grooming one troop member
Madonna. But she's
keeping him at arm's length.
She's coming into season.
ANNA: Her swelling
is Is much larger.
He's having to stay very close.
NARRATOR: He needs
to make sure other males
don't make any
unwanted advances.
ANNA: It's very stressful for
the male when a female's
swelling
because he has to always
move when she moves.
Now Madonna's gotten up so
Simon has to get up too and
follow her.
It takes a lot of energy.
Get less time to feed.
NARRATOR: Simon's behaviour
is subtle, but with thousands of
hours of
observations under her belt,
Anna can read his most nuanced
body language.
His proximity to Madonna is a
signal to all the other males in
the troop
that Madonna is
earmarked for him.
Spending so much time with
this peaceful group of primates
in their wilderness
home can be idyllic.
But sometimes they're
reminded of the harsh realities
of the wild.
Smelling something that's dead
or something that's rotting,
like rotting flesh, erm
Ugh.
[COUGHS]
Oh, no! Oh, goodness.
NARRATOR: It's a
rare type of antelope.
Marley, is it natural?
Is there a snare?
You think it was shot?
Could it have been
from How many days old?
Should be two to three days.
Same as the poaching
camp we found today.
MARLEY: I think so,
yeah. [ANNA SCOFFS]
NARRATOR: It seems the
sitatunga was only wounded
by the poacher's bullet and
so escaped the cooking pot.
But its injuries
were too severe.
ANNA: It's so sad. They're
such beautiful animals.
And just, sometimes we
catch them here at the edge of
the swamp.
I had such a close
encounter once when I was with
the baboons.
MARLEY: Stupid poachers.
NARRATOR: It's a stark reminder
of the dangers all wild animals
face here.
ANNA: We'll go back
to radio, yeah? OK.
ANNA: This is Yeah,
exactly the reality of poaching.
Sometimes it feels like
a war we'll never win.
This is part of the reason
why we do what we do.
Erm But.
When they succeed,
it can feel really
disheartening.
NARRATOR: The next day,
Marley and Kennedy follow the
troop to the edge of a
swamp.
This marshland full of
papyrus plants is the only water
source left
for the baboons
during the dry season.
Juicy shoots are an easy snack,
and with a little more effort
there are also nutritious bulbs
in the ground.
Simon is still keeping a
watchful eye on Madonna.
Her swelling is even more
pronounced and she's almost
ready to mate.
Simon follows her into the
trees, but it seems Madonna has
eyes
for a new man
Kennedy, the low-ranking
male, who has recently joined
the troop.
Madonna, it seems,
is quite the tease.
She sits above Kennedy to give
him a good view of her swelling.
[MARLEY SPEAKING]
Kennedy knows the rules.
Madonna is Simon's female.
But the prospect of mating
with a stranger is attractive to
Madonna.
[MARLEY SPEAKING]
She instinctively knows that
it will mix up the gene pool and
is a good way
to ensure a strong
and healthy offspring.
[MARLEY SPEAKING]
Kennedy is stuck in an
awkward love triangle.
NARRATOR: Moving towards his
rival, making Kennedy back off,
is Simon's way of telling
him, "Don't get any ideas."
In other baboon species this
would be an aggressive display
of dominance.
Teeth would be
bared and fur would fly.
But among kindly Kindas, the
interaction is much more polite.
Madonna's flirting goes on.
Simon gently shoos off
Kennedy for a second time.
[CHITTERING]
Madonna is proving
to be high maintenance.
But her priority is to secure
the best dad for her next baby.
This season there have been
seven new additions to the
troop.
Each baby inherits
its mother's rank
But it takes a while to work
out your place in the world.
Older youngsters play to
socialise and learn the skills
needed
for baboon life.
At only nine months old, they
are already accomplished
acrobats.
New babies like to play with
these older youngsters to learn
the tricks of the trade.
[CHITTERING]
But it's not always easy.
They're only four weeks old
but already Eminem and Israel
are beginning to strike out
on their own.
Their mothers Ella and Indigo
are now giving them more freedom
to explore.
Israel is the more cautious
of the two and hangs back,
but Eminem is getting
bolder by the hour
[CHITTERING]
He's six meters up
and still climbing.
His little hands and feet
aren't used to gripping branches
so tightly
for so long.
Eminem hits the ground.
His mum's rapid
reaction shows it's serious.
MARLEY: It's a dry time.
So where he
landed, it's very hard.
An infant at that age
I've never seen that.
NARRATOR: Shaken, the whole
troop vanishes into the
thickets.
Unable to pick up their
trail, Anna and Marley will have
an anxious wait till morning
to find out if Eminem is OK.
As soon as it's light they're
back out searching for baby
Eminem.
ANNA: Oh, there.
They're coming out.
NARRATOR: The troop
hasn't moved far this morning,
which could be a sign
that something's wrong.
ANNA: I want to see Eminem.
NARRATOR: With so many
baboons on the road, it's hard
to see who's who.
ANNA: Oh, yeah?
Oh, thank goodness.
[ANNA CHUCKLES]
He's fine. He's bouncing around.
Playing with other infants.
I thought Ella might be a
bit nervous after the fall
yesterday, but
They seem OK.
NARRATOR: Baby baboons are
resilient but there's a lot to
learn.
Hopefully Eminem's fall has
knocked some sense into him.
Crisis over, normal service
resumes and Anna and Marley
start to analyse
who's socialising with whom.
ANNA: We've got Tina.
MARLEY: Mmm-hmm, yeah.
ANNA: That's awesome.
ANNA: OK.
NARRATOR: Kinda baboons are
an easygoing lot but they do
occasionally get fired up.
[SQUAWKING]
These calls only
mean one thing
Predator.
It's the babies' cue to
scurry straight back to mum.
With a wingspan of two and a
half meters and talons as big as
man's hand,
the martial eagle
is a Kinda killer.
ANNA: All the babies are back
with their mums, that's for
sure.
MARLEY: Yeah. ANNA:
The alarm call worked.
NARRATOR: Snuggled up against
their mums' pale tummies,
the babies' conspicuous
white fur turns into camouflage.
This drill has been
another lesson for Eminem
and the rest of the youngsters.
Listen to the troop and trust
your elders. It could save your
life.
Further along the road
Rachel waits patiently.
We've got Rihanna here,
she's eating a monkey orange.
And this is Guns just
here. He approached her.
Very friendly, these
two. I think that they
Could even be cousins. Maybe
their mothers were sisters.
But what has actually
happened is that Iggy, who was
here earlier,
he's the same age as these two.
He actually He's pooed,
and I want to collect it,
so I'm waiting for these two
to move so I can collect it.
Because if I go towards
them, I will displace them,
and that behaviour is
unnatural. It's not natural.
The whole point of our research
is to observe them and try and
not disturb them
as much as possible.
Rihanna's moved but he's just
right in front of Guns in the
road.
[CHUCKLES] When he
moves, I can go and get it.
Until then, I cannot.
NARRATOR: At long last
It's just here.
So we take the faecal
matter from the outside.
That's about all you need.
I always get very
excited by poo.
NARRATOR: It's another important
sample for the collection.
The team settles back into
the rhythm at Kinda camp.
Up at dawn and spending the
day moving gently through the
bush following the troop.
Anna is still shadowing
Simon and Madonna.
Interloper Kennedy
is nowhere to be seen.
Madonna seems to have chosen
familiarity over the exotic
charms of a stranger,
but the course of true
love never did run smooth.
Madonna's younger brother,
two-and-a-half-year-old Mitch,
sits close by.
And when Simon
decides the time is right
[SCREAMING]
Mitch screams in distress.
It's off-putting
to say the least.
This is very unusual in the
normally docile Kinda baboons,
and not something the
team has seen before.
[SCREECHING LOUDLY]
Little Mitch is too young to
be in competition with Simon,
so it's not an aggressive
show of dominance.
It seems he's mistaken Simon's
amorous advances for an attack.
Mitch is being protective
of his older sister.
This is new behaviour not
recorded in Kinda baboons
before.
It's an exciting
discovery for the team.
But increasingly
frustrating for Simon.
Strangers are in the park.
Fire spreads fast in the
tinder-dry grasslands.
But these fire-starters
are no threat.
They're paid specialists
Using fire as a tool to protect
wildlife.
It's actually very
beneficial to the baboons.
It hasn't rained
for several months.
It's hot, there's not a lot
of food. They're having to dig,
erm,
use a lot of energy everyday
just to get enough food.
After the fire comes across
within, you know, a few days
flowers blossom, fresh
grass roots come up.
NARRATOR: In addition to
stimulating new plant growth,
controlled burning is also a
way of keeping a step ahead of
the poachers.
ANNA: If it's not burned now,
then a poacher can light a fire
later in the dry season
and it would just destroy all of
the wildlife here in the park.
NARRATOR: Anna and her team
have reached a milestone in
their research.
This is the 500th faecal
sample they've collected
since the project
began six years ago.
Thousands of hours of patient
collecting are building a
treasure trove
of baboon genetics.
We really opened a whole
different understanding of what
is going on
that we can't answer without
the genetics. They're key.
It's going to be
absolutely illuminating.
NARRATOR: Baboons live
a long time, up to 30 years,
and Anna wants her work
here to be a long-term study.
This is just the beginning.
Simon and Madonna have
finally found some time together
away from the troop.
She's accepted his advances
and allows him to groom her.
It's strong confirmation of
their continuing relationship.
ANNA: Adult males
and females are having
these very strong bonds
lasting over several years.
The males are initiating and
maintaining these relationships.
NARRATOR: At last
the time is right for Simon.
There's no younger
sibling around to interrupt,
and Madonna is
finally ready to mate.
Madonna grooms Simon. It's a
sure sign of the bond they've
now formed.
By observing interactions
like this Anna and her team have
built up
an amazing understanding of
the complexities of these
baboons' lives.
They seem to stick
with the same females
for multiple years
and multiple births,
and that's quite, quite
different from other baboons.
NARRATOR: Madonna has made a
good choice. Simon is a good
father,
proven to give
time to his families.
This hands-on approach to
fatherhood is fundamental to
Kinda baboon society.
MARLEY: Male baboons,
they protect their family.
Makes sure his
offsprings are safe.
How they grow up their babies
The way they stay with families.
How they interact with
other members. It's good.
It's quite similar like humans.
NARRATOR: These amiable baboons
stand apart from the rest.
Long-lasting relationships,
devoted fathers,
and a peaceful way of life
all help make Kinda baboons who
they are.