In a tale that begins at a zoo in Zurich and takes us across the deserts
of Ethiopia to the Asir Mountains in Saudi Arabia, Hans Kummer recreates
the adventure and intellectual thrill of the early days of field
research on primates. Just as Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey introduced
readers to the fascinating lives of chimpanzees and gorillas, Kummer
brings us face to face with the Hamadryas baboon. With their furry white
mantles and gleaming red hindquarters, the Hamadryas appear frequently
in the art of the ancient Egyptians--who may have interpreted the
baboons' early morning grooming rituals as sun-worshiping rites. Back
then, Hamadryas were thought to be incarnates of Thoth, the god of
wisdom; today they are considered to have one of the most highly
structured social systems among primates, very close, in some respects,
to that of humans. In the 1960s, Kummer, after conflicts with nomadic
warriors, managed to track down these elusive baboons near the Danakil
Desert, and then followed them from dawn to dusk on their treks from one
feeding place to another. His scientific account of this period reads
like a travel memoir as he describes his encounters with the Hamadryas
and the people with whom they share the desert. Winding his way through
cliffs and stubble, Kummer records the baboons' social life, from the
development of pair relationships to the way an entire group decides
where to march each day. Much like the human nomads who cope with the
harsh demands of the desert environment, the Hamadryas maintain a
society that is strict and patriarchal in its details but multilayered
and flexible in its largest units. We learn, for example, of the
Hamadryas' respect for possession that protects family structure and of
the cohesion among family leaders that lessens the threat of battle. At
the same time, clear-cut personalities emerge from Kummer's account,
drawing us into the life stories and power struggles of individual
baboons. Whereas this rich detail holds many implications for natural
scientists, the colorful way it comes to life makes for a compelling
book bound to entertain and educate all readers.
Originally published in 1995.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand
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