Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Kasanka National Park in Zambia

is a jewel in Africa’s crown.

It’s home to a very special species of baboon,

newly discovered and little known.

Meet Madonna.

She’s a Kinda baboon,

and the first female of her kind

ever to be studied from birth.

Madonna may just hold the key

to understanding the Kindas’ intimate friendships.

The male-female relationships are stronger than

the female-female relationships,

which is absolutely something

I did not think I would discover.

NARRATOR: Behind these unusual alliances

lies a mating game like no other.

It’s a world of intimacy,

love triangles, and dangerous liaisons.

Where the choices Madonna makes

may reveal the mysteries of these unique primates.

(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)

NARRATOR: Madonna is five and a half years old.

She’s high-ranking

and headstrong, but she has yet to reproduce.

The quest for her first mate is allowing scientists

to observe the fascinating relationships

that develop between Kinda females and males.

Those relationships hold the secrets

of their unique mating strategy.

Through the summer,

Madonna came into season for the first time in her life,

and was trying to attract the attention

of the males in the troop.

MARLEY: She’s showing him the swelling.

It’s a signal. She’s trying to attract him.

NARRATOR: Following displays of her sexual swelling,

it seemed that Madonna had settled on

the second highest-ranking,

or beta male, Simon.

But now, as she approaches the peak of her fertility,

she’s opening up the competition.

Primatologist Anna Weyher,

her second-in-command, Rachel Sassoon,

and Zambian scouts Marley and Kennedy,

are the pioneers in this Kinda research.

(SCREECHING)

Baboons have a reputation for violence,

aggression and bad tempers.

But no one told this lot.

(BABOONS CHATTERING)

Up until a few years ago,

these Kinda baboons were believed to be

a sub-species of yellow baboons.

But following genetic testing, it’s been discovered

that they’re a completely different species.

And it’s not just their DNA that sets them apart.

They demonstrate unique behavior,

social organization and mating strategies.

For the last six years, the team has been detailing

the most intimate moments of these monkeys.

It seems now after studying them, that it’s crazy

that they could have ever thought to be yellow baboons.

They just have a different way of doing things

that works for them,

that still continues to grow the group,

that keeps everyone in their place,

allows them to feed, travel,

reproduce, all of those things,

but in a different way.

NARRATOR: Anna is hoping

that further observations of Madonna and the troop

will disclose more about the Kindas’

unusual mating strategy.

The team will follow them

from the dry heat of the winter

into the stormy spring of the wet season.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

Kasanka lies just 18 miles from the rich tropical forest

of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It’s home to a variety of swamps,

forests and grassland plains,

which are transformed

by rain into a verdant paradise.

Kasanka is the destination

for one of the largest migrations on Earth.

Ten million straw-colored fruit bats come here to feast

on the abundance of forest fruit.

But for Madonna and the troop of Kinda baboons,

it’s not just the environment that’s changed.

Two weeks ago,

two new adult males arrived from a neighboring troop,

and Madonna, who’s still to settle on a mate,

appears to be interested in the new males.

The team has christened the males Alfie and Leonard.

Alfie is much more shy than Leonard.

Leonard is more integrated into the troop.

NARRATOR: While Alfie remains on the fringe,

Leonard displays confidence

and is showing interest in some of the females.

Madonna has recently reached adulthood,

and is ready to have her first infant.

But whom will she choose to be the father?

Will it be caring Simon, the beta male?

Newly-arrived Leonard,

with ambitions to increase his status?

Or shy and retiring Alfie?

For the researchers, it’s an incredible opportunity

to discover the nuances

of male-female relationships as they develop.

It’s 5:00 a.m.

These Kindas rise early, and so do the researchers.

The humans start with a cup of tea.

It sets me off for the day. Two is best but one is enough.

As long as I’ve got one, I’m fine,

but I must have one.

NARRATOR: The Kindas have been awake since before dawn.

Last night they chose to roost

in the swampy Mushitu forest close to camp.

With the waterberry trees fruiting,

they’re having breakfast in bed.

These berries are full of vitamins,

and Anna has discovered

they’re a staple of the Kinda’s wet season diet.

Madonna and the troop are tucking in.

There is a lot of food stuff they feed in Kasanka.

They like the waterberries because they are sweet.

NARRATOR: The baboons

can’t get enough of these tiny fruits,

storing them in their cheek pouches,

to be eaten on the move.

ANNA: She’s stuffing her face.

MARLEY: Her cheek pouches, yeah, are full.

She’s enjoying them. (ANNA LAUGHING)

NARRATOR: The rains give rise to an abundance of fruit,

and it makes the Kindas choosy.

They’ll only select the very ripest berries.

In their pursuit of perfection,

these baboons are constantly on the go.

A couple of plump masuku,

with their spicy orange flesh, and it’s on to the next.

The researchers note down the details

of the feeding habits.

It will help build up a picture

of the baboons’ yearly diet.

But what they’re most intrigued about right now

is what Madonna can teach them

about male-female Kinda relationships.

Madonna is being shadowed.

The second-ranking male, Simon,

isn’t letting her out of his sights.

Simon has shown interest in Madonna

since she became sexually mature

and seems intent on mating with her.

ANNA: Madonna has gotten up,

so Simon has to get up too and follow her.

He’s having to stay very close.

NARRATOR: Anna has learnt

that this maintaining of close proximity

is one of the Kinda’s fundamental mating strategies.

The behavior may be subtle,

compared to other baboons, but in Kinda society

this spatial awareness

is a clear signal there’s sexual interest.

Simon is also sending a message

to the other males

that Madonna is earmarked for him,

and right now this is more important than ever.

Since the arrival of the new males,

Leonard and Alfie,

there’s been an interesting reaction.

Simon, he’s just chasing Madonna around

because she now has even that many more males

to kind of shop around with,

and so he’s just constantly focusing on her.

NARRATOR: If Simon can secure Madonna for himself,

she will be his seventh female

and help him to maintain his standing as beta male.

Alpha male Garfunkel is also displaying specific behavior

as a result of having two new males in the troop.

ANNA: Garfunkel seems a little stressed by it.

He’s very much guarding

the females that he needs to guard right now,

and he’s keeping on them.

Two of Garfunkel’s females

have large posterior swellings,

indicating that they’re at their most fertile.

Garfunkel has his hands full,

trying to both guard and mate at the same time.

But multi-task he must,

because Leonard, the new confident male,

is proving quite the Lothario.

Leonard is trying to form friendships

with some of the females.

They may not be in season now,

but Leonard’s ensuring that he’s in the running

when they are.

The other new male, Alfie,

is adopting a rather different mating strategy.

He’s playing the long game

and waiting for females to come to him.

At the moment, it’s not working.

RACHEL: Look at Leonard, he’s getting in there.

Because Alfie is new,

he’s actually behaving as most new males do,

he’s staying at the back, he’s staying on the periphery,

he won’t initiate any interaction

with any females.

Leonard is, erm...

That’s not how they behave usually.

He’s maybe a little too confident,

and at some point, Simon and Garfunkel,

they will put him in his place.

NARRATOR: Madonna instinctively knows

that new males

means an influx of new genetics,

which is essential for the troop’s health.

Out of Simon’s sight,

she’s been having brief encounters with Leonard.

But when they start to make their intentions

clear in public,

Simon is having none of it.

These peaceful primates have accepted Leonard and Alfie,

but in other baboon species,

the arrival of a new male or two

would be far from passive.

(SCREECHING)

ANNA: In yellow baboons,

a young male will immigrate into a group.

He’s young, he’s strong,

he’s going to try to rise at the top of

the dominance hierarchy,

so there’s a lot of fighting when they first come in,

you know, a lot of aggression between males,

cos males don’t want that.

And what we’ve seen with the Kindas

is every time a new male comes in,

he starts at the bottom of the hierarchy,

we have not seen one male come in

who has taken over a high-ranking status.

NARRATOR: The way the Kindas

organize their hierarchy allows the alpha

to maintain his position for several years.

He’ll also stay faithful to a small group of females,

a trait only found in Kinda baboons.

It’s early afternoon. Family time.

(CHATTERING)

Since Anna started the study here in 2010,

there have been many newborns in the troop.

(CHATTERING)

The 6-month-olds are now masters of climbing.

But three months ago, they were much less dextrous.

Baboons start to gain locomotion skills at one month old.

By six months,

they’re adept at a whole manner of acrobatics.

It’s changing so fast, yeah. Yeah.

They grow up too fast.

ANNA: See his head?

MARLEY: Yeah, you see the head. He’s peeping.

He’s totally brown now.

Now he’s riding jockey-style.

Yeah.

ANNA: OK. Well, yeah.

ANNA: Learned a lot, huh? MARLEY: Yeah.

MARLEY: Yeah, he likes dorsal.

ANNA: Not all of them always learn

to ride like that, do they?

MARLEY: Uh, no.

ANNA: Kind of sitting back on Mom, but, like, up.

NARRATOR: For the first six weeks,

all infants are carried ventral,

holding on under their mothers’ bellies.

After that, the more adventurous

climb up their mothers’ legs

to travel in the dorsal position.

And if they’re really confident,

they’ll sit up like a jockey.

The youngest member of the troop,

born just two months ago,

is already exploring the world

from this advantageous vantage point.

(SCREECHING AND CHATTERING)

As evening approaches,

the Kindas make their way into the researchers’ camp,

which lies in the middle of their home range.

I can see some here

traveling across straight in front of me.

ANNA: So this year in August we actually had a fire here.

And because of that, there’s lots of fresh grass,

so they’re picking up the fresh grass.

There’s some roots to dig,

so it’s quite... It’s quite a lush place at the moment

for them to come.

There’s termite mounds

that they’re pulling off to get the termites.

NARRATOR: Termites are one of the baboons’

favorite feasts.

They’re packed with protein and fat.

But despite their best efforts,

there are none here today.

Madonna and the troop eat as much as they can

in this wet season time of plenty,

gorging on a mixed diet of flora and insects.

As usual, Alfie is dining alone.

But Lothario Leonard is continuing to make alliances

with a couple of females.

Some of Leonard’s efforts have been quite vocal,

and Marley has been inspired to learn the lingo.

Males they do, like (GRUNTING) after mating,

so they make a sexual grunt.

(GRUNTING)

For females, sometimes they make

a strange sound after mating.

Like... (CACKLING) Yeah, something like that.

Yeah, so, I’m learning baboon.

NARRATOR: Madonna shows interest in Leonard,

and more than ever,

Simon is keeping her under close surveillance.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

(SCREECHING)

ANNA: So, I can hear thunder coming.

Almost every afternoon we get a rainstorm,

and that can affect the baboons’ behavior,

but also our ability to find and watch the baboons.

They won’t likely move far before they decide to sleep,

so they could sleep just very close to us.

(SCREECHING)

NARRATOR: As the baboons head off to

find a roosting place,

Kasanka’s migrant straw-colored bats

are starting to stir.

(BATS SCREECHING)

The baboons and the bats share the same taste in fruit.

These winged mammals will travel up to 40 miles,

feeding on the ripest waterberries and masuku.

They’ll consume half their body weight in fruit

before returning

to the Mushitu forest at dawn.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

(RAIN FALLING)

The rainy season is now in full swing,

which makes life difficult for Anna and her team.

They’re probably all sitting in khaya,

huddled up in the rain.

NARRATOR: Sometimes it’s just not possible

to follow the baboons.

Instead, they can catch up on inputting

the scientific data,

building up a biological picture of these Kindas,

their diet, their patterns of behavior

and the development of the female-male relationships.

As the rain clears once again,

the team is back in pursuit of Madonna and the troop.

We’re going out to look for the baboons,

we lost them yesterday afternoon,

so we’ve lost them for about 24 hours.

And we had a big rain in between,

so we think they got stuck somewhere.

So what we’ll be doing

is looking for prints on the road, mostly,

to see if they’ve crossed over

one way or the other.

And also feeding signs and things like that.

NARRATOR: The Kindas could be anywhere

in their 9-square-mile range.

Sometimes we don’t find them,

what we normally do is go for the food

at that particular time they are feeding.

They wouldn’t have gone in the Mushito

cos it would be wet, right?

But they would go into the plain?

NARRATOR: Anna is always concerned

when they lose track of the Kindas.

Poaching activity in Kasanka, although illegal,

is still prevalent.

Baboons are popular bush meat in nearby villages.

Back in the dry season,

when the park was more easily accessible,

the team regularly stumbled across the evidence

of this illicit activity.

Up until the late 1980s, poaching was so rife here

that a new management strategy was adopted,

as an emergency measure to save the wildlife.

(GAGS)

MARLEY: I think it was shot.

NARRATOR: Working in the park is a dangerous business.

Both Kennedy and Marley are armed at all times.

ANNA: There’s a lot of poaching activity

in Kasanka,

and we come across lots of evidence of it,

erm, by snares, poaching camps,

hearing gun shots,

even running into poachers sometimes.

It’s devastating. (STAMMERS) It breaks my heart, it’s hard.

NARRATOR: Finding clues that the baboons are OK

is always a relief.

This looks wet.

Looks like after the rains this morning.

ANNA: OK, so it’s still fresh.

NARRATOR: Like detectives, Marley and Kennedy

follow the tracks and signs

through the forest, out onto the grassland plain,

where they eventually spot some Kindas.

(BABOONS CHATTERING)

NARRATOR: There’s no sign of Madonna,

but two juvenile males

are burning off some adolescent energy.

(SCREECHING)

But they were born in the same year, yeah?

Yes.

So they know each other well, they’re good friends.

MARLEY: Yeah, friends, yeah.

NARRATOR: These spirited males have

grown up together and have become experts at the game

"rough and tumble."

But their friendship won’t stay like this forever.

Unlike females, who stay with the troop

all their lives,

males leave after puberty.

Sexual maturity between the age of six and nine

will eventually spur them to venture off

in search of mates.

Just like Leonard and Alfie,

they’ll enter a troop as low-ranking males

and work their way up.

But for now, life is pretty simple.

It’s just one big playground.

MARLEY: I think they had a lot energy food...

ANNA: Yeah.

Like masuku, the waterberries and...

Insects.

Insects. Yeah.

(SCREECHING)

NARRATOR: The juveniles lead the research team

to the woodland.

Madonna and the rest of the troop are safe

and enjoying a spot of fine dining.

In the wet season, the abundance of food

allows the Kindas

to spend more time being social.

Grooming is a daily pastime,

and Simon is giving Madonna some special attention.

RACHEL: So, I write down any kind of interaction

that we see throughout the day and

the reason why we do that

is because it can give us an idea

of who’s interacting with who,

and the kind of relationships they have.

Most of the time the relationships

are between related individuals,

like brothers and sisters,

and mothers and infants, their juveniles.

It’s interesting to see if these relationships occur

every day or how often they occur.

NARRATOR: Typically in primates,

same-sex individuals use grooming

to solidify bonds and affirm hierarchies.

But here,

it’s the relationships between the males

and females that are proving so fascinating.

Anna has been watching Madonna and Simon closely.

ANNA: The males and the females,

they form strong, strong bonds.

In other baboons, we see females

are the most closely bonded.

Here we see, actually, the male-female relationships

are stronger than the female-female relationships,

which is absolutely something

I did not think I would discover.

NARRATOR: In some other baboon species,

the male only shows interest in a female

when she’s in season.

But in Kindas, the male is attentive year-round

and is the initiator and maintainer

of the relationship.

This behavior is at the heart

of what sets the Kindas’ mating strategy apart.

Simon has seven females to attend to,

but at the moment he’s focusing on Madonna.

With her hormones elevated, and the close proximity

of the two new males hanging around,

Madonna is rarely sitting still,

much to Simon’s frustration.

Anna’s team is on a constant learning curve

with these Kindas,

uncovering the secrets

of this newly identified species.

It’s clear that Kindas are unique,

and Anna is keen to protect these animals

by working with the local communities.

(CHILDREN SINGING)

Thank you so much for coming to Kasanka today.

NARRATOR: Every week,

local school children are invited into the park,

for some extracurricular wildlife lessons.

ANNA: We are the first to study them,

so we collect information on the baboons.

So here are some baboons of ours.

Each of them has their own personality.

ANNA: It’s really important

that we give the kids these lessons.

Because it teaches them about the animals

that live so near to them.

It gives them a chance to see the animals

that we’re asking them to try and conserve.

ANNA: So here are some juveniles playing.

(GIGGLING)

ANNA: What I hope to achieve

by working with the young children...

You know, if they can really see

what the park has to offer for them,

hopefully we can have some impact against the poaching.

ANNA: The biggest way that the monkeys die is leopards.

Eagles for the small ones,

but mostly from humans, from poaching.

Now you will go explore Kasanka.

Look out for the kolwe. Thank you so much.

(CLAPPING)

NARRATOR: Anna hopes

the children will take their new knowledge about the Kindas

and the threat they face from humans,

and spread the word back in their communities.

In the grasslands,

Madonna and the troop have struck gold.

Termites.

After the rains at night, the termites fly out

of their termite mounds

to shed off their wings.

They dig their holes and hide themselves there,

so baboons dig the holes and eat them.

They taste very nice, like peanut butter,

and they are protein and they make them full

more than any other food.

(BIRDS SQUAWKING)

NARRATOR: As usual,

Madonna is being shadowed by Simon.

By following these male-female interactions,

the team is starting to understand

the nuances of the Kindas’ mating strategies.

How they use close proximity to show interest

and fend off competitors.

And how the deep bonds

they develop can last for years.

The team has also uncovered another,

softer side of the male Kindas.

RACHEL: It’s lovely to see the males

taking such an interest

in infants that they believe to be their own.

Within other primate species,

this is practically unheard of.

Other baboon species do it, but Kindas... It’s very high,

a lot of paternal care and interest in their babies

and a lot of interaction,

touching and carrying, and vocalizations.

It’s lovely to watch.

NARRATOR: The team believes

that a display of good fathering skills

is attractive to the females.

Simon does display very specific Kinda behaviors

that we’ve been seeing over the years.

He’s a good role model in the sense of being

caring with females and caring for infants.

He’s a very gentle character.

The little ones feel really comfortable around him.

NARRATOR: Simon’s paternal skills have

caught Madonna’s attention.

And he’s letting her hold one of his infants.

This has earned him brownie points

and they affirm their relationship.

(BABOONS SHRIEKING AND GRUNTING)

But Madonna is keeping her options open.

She’s starting to swell,

and in the coming weeks she’ll be at her most fertile.

Although Alfie has been somewhat of a wallflower,

he’s also managed to catch Madonna’s eye.

ANNA: Her behavior is quite interesting

because she has been bouncing around

to different males.

I think she’s just not quite decided

who she wants to be with,

although Simon very clearly wants to be with her,

and so she’s doing a form of female choice

and maybe a little teasing.

NARRATOR: Madonna is hedging her bets.

When she’s not maintaining her relationship with Simon,

she’s trying to get close to Alfie.

Alfie is interested, but he’s also wary.

He doesn’t want to upset an approaching Simon.

Madonna must ensure her advances

are more clandestine,

if she’s to get Alfie to mate with her.

Anna has learnt that promiscuity is quite common

in Kinda females.

Whilst males work hard to maintain

a close relationship with just a few,

some of the females have been seen

having sneaky mating sessions

with lots of different males.

It could be a means of ensuring infant protection,

as several males will believe

the offspring to be theirs.

For the team, trying to build up

an accurate biological picture

of the troop,

this promiscuity poses a problem.

We really want to look at,

specifically, fathers, paternity.

Who is the father?

Because obviously we know the mother

because the infant is with the mother,

but we would really like to know who the fathers are.

Genetics will tell us.

NARRATOR: The team has been collecting faecal samples

for six years.

It’s a vital element of the research necessary

for genetic testing.

Perfect. Right to the line.

NARRATOR: Contained in the baboon’s faeces

is a wealth of data,

including their DNA.

From this, each baboon can be clearly identified

and it can be determined

for sure which male has fathered which infant.

The first lot of fecal samples

are being packed,

to be sent off to a laboratory

in the USA.

Definitely there will be some surprises for sure,

just from the behavior we see.

Sneak copulation, new males coming in.

It will bring a new...

A whole new idea of what’s going on,

sort of like opening that Oscar envelope

and, "This is who is who."

NARRATOR: The results will feed back into the research,

helping to further understand the relatedness of the troop,

its unusual dynamics,

and its unique mating behaviors.

The baboon’s faeces

have never been so precious to anyone

but the dung beetles.

Back in the love triangle,

Alfie is still playing hard-to-get with Madonna,

and no matter how hard she tries,

she just can’t get him alone.

Simon is keeping tabs on her.

MARLEY: I think he’s trying to find Madonna.

NARRATOR: His presence is once again

causing Alfie to move away.

MARLEY: She’s also checking for Simon.

Oh, he’s coming.

NARRATOR: Relations between Madonna and Simon

are becoming strained.

She rejects his attempt to mate.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

The rains are threatening again.

It’s going to be another long night

of hunkering down.

Over the last week,

millions more straw-colored fruit bats

have continued to fly

from the Central African rainforest belt

into Kasanka National Park.

Numbers are now reaching their peak of 10 million,

but, in this time of plenty,

there’s still stacks of food to go around.

Madonna will soon be coming into season,

and she can’t ignore her instincts

urging her to select a mate.

She appears to be a little broody.

She’s intrigued by

the youngest member of the troop

and wants to get close.

Okay, so Ella’s still there.

MARLEY: Madonna approaching her.

"Let me see your baby! Let me see your baby!"

NARRATOR: The baby’s mother is highly protective.

By grooming,

Madonna assures her she’s no threat.

As her fertile period comes ever closer,

Madonna’s interest in Alfie is intensifying.

She’s trying different approaches

to get him to mate with her.

She tantalizes him

with a really good view of her swelling.

But Simon’s having none of it,

and heads in

to reassert his position by her side.

Madonna, however, has other plans.

She’s choosing Alfie.

Alfie hasn’t proved himself yet as a father,

nor is he as high-ranking as Simon.

But he has something else to

offer Madonna and her first infant.

He brings diversity to the gene pool.

Once in the bushes,

it’s clear that Alfie’s "slowly, slowly" mating

strategy has paid off.

ANNA: Oh, oh, there he goes.

Nice.

NARRATOR: Madonna’s decision-making and behavior

is proving revelatory for the team.

They’re starting to understand how

female-male friendships develop,

how the exercising of female choice

and the instinctive drive for new genes

all come into play in

the Kinda’s unique mating game.

I hope that this troop will provide us with

some answers as to how Kinda baboons fit into the science,

compared to all other baboon species,

cos they are very different,

and I also hope that,

in terms of just our specific troop,

that they thrive, they continue to thrive, and that we will see

even more interesting behavior as they grow up.

Kinda baboons have never been studied.

Primates live for a long time. Baboons live for a long time.

Having six years of data is great.

We’ve learned a lot,

but they obviously have a different mating strategy.

Following them for many more years,

we’ll get even a better picture of what

Kinda baboons are like.

The hope and the want of us, of Kasanka, is that

this will be a long-term running project for years to come.

(BABOONS CHATTERING)

NARRATOR: Anna’s dream is that the research

will continue here throughout Madonna’s life,

following her and the troop every step of the way,

from Madonna’s first birth,

through to her last and beyond.

♪

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