Maria Corrales - Baboon Babies are Babies Too

 

 

So, I was living in the South African bush at a baboon rehabilitation center. We rescued orphaned and injured baboons, formed troops with them and released them back in the wild. 

 

Now, baboons are the largest monkeys. They are greatly misunderstood and underappreciated. They have a reputation for being very aggressive. But the truth is that their personalities are as unique and varied as humans. It's true. Some can be assholes, but most aren't. They can be creative, humorous and tenderhearted, the whole spectrum.

 

So, the story I want to share is that of my baboon son, Gabriel. Yeah. Gabriel was found just weeks old, clinging to the body of his dead mother who had been shot. When Gabriel and I met, we bonded instantly. I adopted him as his surrogate mother. So, this meant that I carried him around with me all day. Everything I did, he was with me, including showering and sleeping, just as his mother would have done.

 

As he got a little bit older, I would drop him off at what was effectively daycare, so that he could play for the day with other orphan youngsters. I'd pick him up in the afternoon to bring him home. When he reached weaning age for our purposes, this meant that at the end of the day, instead of coming home with me, we would put him in a cage inside with fluffy blankets and toys and a couple of his friends. Eventually, the whole troop would sleep outside in an enclosure as part of the process towards release.

 

Now, Gabriel was my golden child. He was the most beautiful, intelligent and compassionate baboon I've ever met. He demonstrated behaviors that even Rita, our director who had worked with baboons for 30 years, had never seen. I realized that I'm biased, [laughs] but when he was young, I had to take him to the vet for some minor procedure. When the vet came in the room and he saw him, he called out to the nurse, “Nurse, nurse, you have to come in here. You have to see how beautiful this baboon is.” [laughs] He was verifiably exceptional, and I loved him as completely and fully as I could love any being.

 

So, Gabriel had reached weaning age. Like all children, baboons hate weaning. It's pretty typical that the first few nights in the cage, they cry all night until they finally fall asleep from sheer exhaustion. Gabriel's experience was no different. We were a few days into this process when on the third afternoon, a volunteer came to find me with words that terrified me, “Something's wrong with Gabriel. You have to come.” 

 

I ran to the daycare, and I was relieved initially to see that he was all in one piece and he was conscious, but there was something clearly wrong. He was lethargic. He had a limp that would come and go, and a strange cough. I was perplexed by these symptoms. So, I brought him in to see the expert, Rita. We laid out a blanket with special toys and treats to try to lift his spirits and watched him closely for two hours. He would start to play and seem to feel okay, but then he would stop and limp and cough. 

 

Rita confirmed that something was definitely wrong, but she also had no idea what was happening. It was too late to take him to the vet. There was no question I wasn't putting him in the cage that night. He was coming home with me, and I would stay up all night watching him closely and we would take him to the vet in the morning.

 

So, I took my lugubrious Gabriel, and I carried him home where he hadn't been for two nights. I opened the door. Before I could close it behind me, he suddenly sprung from my arms. He ran at top speed, jumped on the table, onto the counter, back flipping off, laughing all the way, bursting with self-delight. [chuckles] I stood dumbstruck as the pieces slowly came together, and I realized that he had pretended. [audience laughter] He had pretended to be sick for hours. That's why his symptoms made no sense. [audience laughter] I walked up to him in a daze, and he sheepishly climbed up into my arms, awaiting his judgment. [audience laughter]

 

I was so impressed [chuckles] that as he had earned his last night in bed with me. [audience laughs] I realized that no matter where we are or what they look like, children are alike.