baboon news stories on Newser

Baboon 'Readers' Pick Out Real Words

Matt Cantor — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 11:59:05 CDT

Don't expect him to pick up a novel anytime soon—but Dan the baboon and five buddies know real English words when they see them. For instance, if Dan sees the letters BRRU, ITCS, and KITE, he'll pick out the last one as the real word, even though he doesn't...

Drunk Baboons Ravage Suburbia

Jane Yager — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 05:00:00 CDT

The vineyards and houses of one of South Africa's poshest suburbs are under siege—by groups of marauding Cape Baboons, who feast on sauvignon blanc grapes fermenting in the sun and terrorize locals. One troop of baboons recently broke into a family home in the Cape Town suburb and traumatized...

Some Male, Mom Baboons 'Just Friends'

Rob Quinn — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 05:26:00 CDT

Scientists are trying to figure out why many male baboons enter into platonic friendships with single moms, the BBC reports. Researchers probing relationships within baboon tribes found that the friendships, which did not appear to involve sex in about half the instances, helped mother and offspring dodge the unwanted attentions...