I have a female baboon skull and most folks think I'm serious when I tell them that it's from a leopard. Those teeth are BIG!



Does someone have a picture of a skull to show why I almost scored my drawers??? Please add it to the thread if you do for those not so familiar with the beasts.

That would be an interesting way to "provoke a charge": challenge an alpha male baboon and wait with the shot until he charges! Should one perhaps paint the buttocks as well?

Regards,
Martin

This fine event took place a week ago in the Chete consession of Zimbabwe. I promised I wouldn't tell anybody, but I had my fingers crossed when I did it.



Actually, HHK has a houseboat that they keep on a tributary of the Zambezi (Lake Kariba at that point). The fellows "standing watch" upon the boat had seen a smallish crock grab the baboon and pull it into the water. The guard guys ran down the beach and threw rocks at the crock causing it to loose the baboon... who prompty climbed on the denuded tree. (Why anyone would get in the middle of a crock and a baboon fight, I don't know!).



In any event, we didn't know about the earlier struggle when we came upon the baboon, though in retrospect, he did favor his right arm slightly (or do baboons have all legs?).



After the incident, we stopped at the houseboat for a cold drink and learned about the earlier battle. While resting up, I sat on the upper deck and kept checking on the dude in the snag. I wonder why he felt safer in (or above) instead of on land (particularly after being drug in by a crock???? Finally he swam the short distance to shore and slinked off to heal his wounds, I guess.



Ain't Africa amazing!

I'd love to know where you got that skull bronzed, it looks great!

Is that ol Friday and Domi with (P.H.)Brent Hein?

1JDANIEL:



From bow aft, it's Forgot (the game scout), Brent (the PH), Friday (head tracker) and then William (assistant



I'm just glad I was in the stern or I would have been trying to grab the darn thing, too. Seemed like a good idea at the time... kinda like getting married. A challenge, you grab aholt (good Texas word) and then try to figure out how to get out of the deal without getting bit too badly.

In graduate school I had a graduate assistant job in charge of a breeding colony of rhesus monkeys (yes, we picked up lots of rhesus pieces!) and came to have great respect for the power of primates. A rhesus male only gets to 45 pounds or so but is estimated to have 7x human strength pound for pound. We did not handle the breeding males except when pinned in a restraining cage or anesthetized. They could take an adult human apart. The baboons are much bigger and probably much more aggressive.

Making eye contact is a threat behavior. To ratchet it up, drop your jaw and look one in the eyes! By the way, paint your rear only if you want to breed!

This whole thread is fairly reminesent of last years Dallas Safari show at the Judges hotel room and beyond to Papados Resturant, we filled the place with Baboons....