Baboons Make Pets Of Feral Dogs

Could we put this down as evolution. These baboons are capturing puppies and raising them in the family to be guard dogs against other feral dogs. Not sure of the location.
The clip says that the dogs must be accepted as part of the family as the Baboons groom them and they only groom family members. The dogs also travel on their migrations with them.
I have never ever seen anything like this we know about other Primates tool use but this domestication of another animal I haven't seen in Primates outside of ourselves before.
Can't help with the location as yet as I have not had chance to chase down the full documentary nor watch it yet.
For those who can't see the video it's called Animals Like Us.

i wonder what an interbreed would look like.

reply to post by icepack


Nothing, because it doesn't work.

As for the question of whether this is evolution... no. This is culture.

And also, judging by baboons in question - they're hamadrayas baboons - the location is likely Somalia or Ethiopia.

reply to post by goldentorch


Brutal but Awesome!

Thanks for clip!

Without these vids we wouldn't understand animal inteligence in their own evironments!

Originally posted by icepack
i wonder what an interbreed would look like.

Something like this

Originally posted by TheWalkingFox
reply to post by icepack

 

Nothing, because it doesn't work.

As for the question of whether this is evolution... no. This is culture.

Could not our social development be seen as part of our evolution? Perhaps stretching a point but better organised groups, better tool use and development of resources have led us to be a totally different animal today. Development of the brain in these sorts of areas I would posit as part of evolution therefore but would stand corrected.

reply to post by goldentorch


That´s interesting, I wonder what the dogs eat, do they hunt together with the other dogs in the family?

Also,

I have never ever seen anything like this we know about other Primates tool use but this domestication of another animal I haven't seen in Primates outside of ourselves before.

Humans are not primates.

reply to post by goldentorch


It contributes. A given culture functions more or less like any other environment, so far as natural selection is concerned. So a given individual who fails at the culture he's in will not be as successful at breeding as one who fits right in. If ability to adapt to culture is genetic - say a more fluid learning ability in later life - then that gets passed on as well.

Keeping dogs may prove to be just a "fad" - it may even be detrimental to the troupes that practice it (After all, they're sharing food resources with a species they can't produce offspring with.) So there's no telling if it will persist. But if it does, the ability to understand and mimic the body language of hte other species in hte relationship will prove beneficial for dog and baboon, just as it has for dogs and humans (yes, we actually instinctively understand a lot of dog body language, and they understand a lot of ours; it's been a long partnership)

Originally posted by CaptainInstaban
reply to post by goldentorch

 

That´s interesting, I wonder what the dogs eat, do they hunt together with the other dogs in the family?

They eat garbage in the dump, just like the baboons.

Also,

Humans are not primates.

Uh... yeah, point of fact, we are.

Originally posted by TheWalkingFox
reply to post by goldentorch

 

So a given individual who fails at the culture he's in will not be as successful at breeding as one who fits right in.

I wonder what's going wrong with our culture and evolution? The thugs and scum of our societies are proving to be pretty successful at breeding? Makes you go hmmmm..........

reply to post by TheWalkingFox


It states in the clip that they act as watchdogs so perhaps serving a purpose makes them worth feeding for the Baboons. Certainly unusual behaviour, do you think anything else in a similar vein could show up as creatures adapt to the mess we've made of the World. People forget that Darwin's stance was the creature that adapts is the one to survive not the politically corrupted message of survival of the fittest.

reply to post by DZAG Wright


In a nutshell it may be defined as low expectations of the breeding pair, for themselves and their progeny and society responding to those expectations and lowering rather than raising the bar, mmmmm indeed.

reply to post by DZAG Wright


What in the world makes you think "thugs and scum" fall outside of our culture? Our culture basically revolves around brutalizing others and taking their stuff. Thuggery is a positive trait, as far as our culture is concerned. And then we moralize and wring our hands and pretend that we're "so much better" because it makes us feel better to do so. Tellingly, we only consider them "thugs and scum" when they fail to make great acquisitions via piracy. when they succeed we call them celebrities and powerbrokers and reward them with fameand favor.

They eat garbage in the dump, just like the baboons.

reply to post by TheWalkingFox


Lol.

Uh... yeah, point of fact, we are.

Point of fact is.... you are absolutely correct.

My mistake, I was wrong, I thought that apes and primates where different groups alltogether.

Since humans fall into the sub catagory of apes.

reply to post by goldentorch


My statement was simply that serving as watchdogs might not be enough of a benefit, ultimately. It's a cost / benefit situation; is the value of a scant resource worth exchange for service provided..

If the answer is yes, this practice will continue and likely develop more.
If the answer is no, the practice will stop; most likely the baboons will just kill and eat the puppies they capture if food starts going scarce, but it could go the other way, too.

With other animals start adapting to the mess going on? well, yeah, they've been doing so for a really, really long time, and htye'll continue to do so. Life's not static.

That's pretty amazing.


Let's hope those baboons don't come across any rectangles stuck in the ground or else they'll wind up slapping each other with femur bones

reply to post by goldentorch


Maybe the animals are evolving with humanity, that would be fair. All it takes is something to make them aware sorta like man becomming aware. Cool OP, and I think they communicate amongst themselves via telepathics nature some what how humans first were connected.

reply to post by TheWalkingFox


Totally agree in life not being static. Think I had the cultural filter on myself there in finding it so surprising, things are adapting and speciating all the time, the cultural filter just had me surprised they could pick up any of our tricks. Ahhh we arrogant humans

reply to post by Ophiuchus 13


I think along the same lines viz a viz communication. Much of the talk of of viewers etc I believe to be based in what you say. Part of our empathetic and survival instincts. Much of it I believe to be primordial in that it has an unconscious neural base. WalkingFox spoke of us unconsciously understanding dogs body language so that opens the door for other creatures to pick up 'some' understanding of some of our basic functions. After all they're part of the same zoological group and have toolmaking abilities so things in that catagory are easier to accept. This social mirroring though I must admit raised an eyebrow.

reply to post by TXRabbit


Yes and who could say where such behaviour could end up, they'll end up thinking they can fly or something sheeesh damn apes!