Here's a strange one! Anyone got any sensible theories for the odd behaviour?

Agence France-PresseAugust 2, 2013 09:06
Traumatized baboon mystery at Dutch zoo
Zoologists are baffled by the strange behaviour of a troop of baboons at a Dutch zoo which have become inexplicably withdrawn, apparently fearful of an unseen threat.

Zoologists are baffled by the strange behaviour of a troop of baboons at a Dutch zoo which have become inexplicably withdrawn, apparently fearful of an unseen threat.

"They became panicked at the end of the day on Monday, they were hysterical, not jumping around but behaving strangely," zoologist Wijbren Landman of Emmen Dierenpark in the northern Netherlands told AFP on Friday.

"On Tuesday and Wednesday they just sat in the trees or on the ground, hardly moving or eating," Landman said.

The 112 east African monkeys also turned their backs on visitors.

The zoo said it was the fourth time in 20 years that the baboons have behaved this way. Nevertheless, such behaviour has not been seen elsewhere, either in captivity or in the wild.

The zoologist said he has no idea what happened on Monday to traumatise the baboons, who were all born in captivity and live on an island in the zoo.

"I've heard lots of theories but nothing that holds water," Landman said.

These include that the baboons saw a predator, either a real one or an image of one on a visitor's T-shirt, or that they felt an earthquake or other natural disaster.

"The craziest suggestion was that it was caused by a UFO," said Landman.

"They've been observed to be disconcerted in the wild if they've had a run-in with a predator, but not this type of behaviour," he said.

Despite the lack of an explanation for the behaviour, the baboons have at least started to eat a little.

"Yesterday evening some of them started eating little bits of apple and we gave them pellets with vitamins and minerals," Landman said.

"They're not yet 100 percent but they're improving.

"We've asked experts for their opinions, if they've ever seen anything like it or have an explanation, but that hasn't turned anything up yet," he said.

I'm not saying this is any kind of explanation, but I have read accounts where animals (quite often dogs) were said to be utterly terrified and took days, if not weeks, to recover after they came into contact with beings of a similar ilk to the mothman.

It's also a bit strange that it hasn't been observed anywhere else though, whether in captivity or in the wild.

Who knows!

It's odd too that although it's never been witnessed elsewhere, there have been a number of these episodes at that specific place over the years.

I wonder if there's any harmonics experimentation going on in Holland. I looked on t'net, but nobody's likely to broadcast the fact if they're up to firking around, controlling mood / emotions through resonance. It was just a thought.

I don't think the article (or the zoo) are giving enough credence to the animals behaviour.

Yes they think it's unusal but all behaviour of the baboons to them is relatively unkown, people have not been observing this animals day in and day out for years.

I don't know anything about baboons but I'd be interested to learn whether or not one of their troop died following this 'episode'. It may be that the group knew one was about to pass and held a sort of vigil iyswim?

dawnbreak wrote:
They've been observing them in that particular zoo for 20 years. Why it seems a mystery is because that particular behaviour hasn't been observed in the wild or in captivity elsewhere.

Somebody chucked a spliff in & they toked it & wrote the entire works of Shakespeare by scratching it into concrete & thus had better things to do than constantly interact with tedious humans making faces at them for a price they do not get much reward from.
Fuck zoos.