Bet we had dogs before we invented the wheel. - Page 3

That video was funny. Macaques are very persistent and they do seem to enjoy riding....goats and dogs.
Maybe that's where humans got the idea to ride donkeys and horses, imitating monkeys on dogs and goats, LOL.

SS, I just saw where you asked where the baboon I had came from. He came from a USDA licensed owner who asked me to foster him, since his mother rejected him. When he went through puberty, he was put with his own kind and lived happily till old age took him. He had a good education on foraging for natural food and was very self confidant, so he had no problem being accepted by his new monkey family.
He demonstrated when it was time for him to go by putting on his displays when we were in the woods. He'd be grabbing saplings and rattling them, running from tree to tree putting on a show of power.

I didn't know the male baboons did the same sort of power displays as chimps do. That's interesting to know. I am glad to hear he was able to eventually return to his own kind. They are very social animals. And the adult males have fangs over an inch long, and don't hesitate to use them!
Not something you want as a pet once puberty strikes...

I really appreciate that you knew how to teach him what he needed to know to be a baboon, instead of dressing him up and treating him like a human infant. IMO, that's the worst thing you can do to any pet, whether it's a dog or a monkey!

I volunteer for a local wildlife rehab, and the happiest days for everyone there are when our job is done, and the animals in our care successfully returned to the wild. Some rehabs track the animals they release, and figures show first year survival rates are pretty much the same for the rehab babies as for those reared by their mothers.

Right now the baby raccoons are reaching the age where Mom would be taking them out and teaching them to forage for food, so they are starting to become more wary and aggressive with humans. They sure are cute when they're young, but like most wild animals, they don't make good pets when grown.

 

SS, baboons don't need to reach puberty to be dangerous. Watch how they interact with each other and how the mothers reprimand a punk. They've been seen sitting on a recalcitrant youngster, and a bite on the back or arm is common, to put one in his place. They are rough animals with each other. They also are omnivorous, so raw chicken leg would be eaten by Josh, bone and all. He love a rack of raw goat ribs, and raw, fresh liver was his favorite. I showed him how to pull the bark off downed trees, and eat the bugs and grubs underneath. Yea, I had to pretend to eat them, even catching grasshoppers...and pretend to eat it. He got good at catching them.
Mulberries were one of his favorite fruits, plus muscadines...he'd stuff his face and get his fists full. Sit down and push his cheek, using the back of his wrist cause his hands were full, and punch the berries out of his cheek pouch to eat them. Then he'd eat what he had in his fists.
He was a very interesting animal.

It probably sounds crazy, but after seeing the intelligence and self-awareness in the eyes of non-human primates, I've come to feel that keeping them in captivity is just a step or two below enslaving humans.

Hexe, when the animals are used as slaves, like capuchins being used to assist the handicapped, is that what you mean by enslaving? I agree with one hundred percent there.
Also, I don't believe they should be staked out on a chain. In Fl there are little squirrel monkeys which have been released or escaped and living 'in the wild'. The monkey in the video was not captive, and he is doing the same thing the one I had with me did....being a monkey. It appears the people watching the non captive one were having fun watching, too.

One of those little monkeys turned out in the wilds of FL was recently captured and taken to a rescue because he started to jump from trees and bite people.

I imagine Joanro's monkeys lived a lot better than some of us.

@ Blitzen, the little monkeys can be aggressive. I was in Fl in '92, doing a commercial for a German beer company at a state park near Lauderdale with my Appaloosa. I remember seeing some squirrel monkeys in the trees, hanging around watching the goings on. They looked like they were minding their own business, but I did hear stories of problems with some individuals.

This one terrorized a neighborhood for months. Area people fed it thinking they were being kind. I am waiting for someone here to get hurt by a gator. They insist on feeding them every day and a few are getting very bold and seem to not be very wary of humans anymore.

Speaking of bush meat, is there still a theory that the eating of bush meat is responsible for the AID's epidemic?

Supposedly an already dead chimp found in the jungle, and consumed by hungry hunters.