Mother and Baby Baboons

by Jan Tritten

© 2008 Midwifery Today, Inc. All rights reserved.

[Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in Midwifery Today, Issue 86, Summer 2008.]

Dorothy had been excited about showing me the baboons at Cape Point on our venue-checking trip to Cape Town, South Africa, for a possible conference.

We had a lovely trip to the point sightseeing and buying trinkets along the way. We got to the Cape Point parking lot and parked the car. As I was putting my bag of trinkets in the "boot," a momma baboon came up and grabbed my bag, tore it and got part of it. I kept the goodies. We laughed and the momma jumped onto a red car. I enjoyed taking several more photos to share with you in the magazine.

We had a lovely walk up to the lighthouse and saw beautiful views. The whole area around Cape Town is stunning. I hope we are able to do a conference there so you can see it in person! We also had one of the nicest meals of my life, with seven kinds of seafood and curry. We happily headed to the car after our lovely sojourn. And yes, some baboons were being chased out of the restaurant. Oh, and a bird stole calamari right out of my hand at the restaurant.

We got to the parking lot with Dorothy carrying our leftovers in a white Styrofoam carton. The baboons were nowhere to be seen. Then from far down the parking lot came the mother-running at high speed with the baby firmly attached to her back. She went right for Dorothy's carton and spilled rice and shrimp. The baby jumped off her back and the two of them ate the rice. They apparently don't like shrimp. The baby then jumped back on mom and off they went looking for another victim.

They found the next victim quickly: It was a woman with drinks in a white plastic bag. The momma wrestled the bag quickly out of the shocked woman's grip. The baboon got an orange drink out, bit a hole in it and began sucking the juice, most of which fell to the ground. The baby jumped off her back and drank the juice off of the ground. When momma had sucked all she could, she threw down the almost empty bottle and began to suck the rest off the ground with her baby (see picture). When they were done with that the baby jumped back onto her perch on momma's back and off they went. We had many rich and delightful experiences but this was the funniest.

We also stopped at a penguin colony on the way back from the cape. Dorothy said after many trips to the cape this is the first time she saw a mother baboon with her baby. This was delightful for midwives!

Each one teach one.
 jan

Jan Tritten Jan Tritten is the founder and editor-in-chief of Midwifery Today magazine. She became a midwife in 1977 after the wonderful homebirth of one of her daughters. Her mission is to make loving midwifery care the norm for birthing women and their babies throughout the world. Meet Jan at our conferences around the world! [ PHOTO BY ANDREA NOLL ]   >  Editorials  Click here to read some of Jan's Midwifery Today editorials.   >  Curriculum Vitae  1947 Born in Los Angeles, California. 1965 Graduated from Placer High School in Auburn, California. 1966 Trained for one year as a psychiatric technician. Courses included basic nursing, pharmacology, microbiology, anatomy and physiology, psychology. 1966–1971 Worked at DeWitt State Hospital in Auburn, California as a psychiatric technician. 1968 Graduated from Sierra College with an Associate of Arts degree. 1970 Graduated with honors from Sacramento State College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Science. 1971 Earned Lifetime California teaching credential with fifth-year program from Sacramento State College. 1972 First daughter born in a hospital. It changed my life forever. It was an unsatisfactory birth experience, but I had a wonderful postpartum experience with 2-1/2 years of breastfeeding. 1976 Second daughter born. She was born at home with a doctor who talked me into a homebirth. The difference between the two births sent me on a path to do something to help women have positive birth experiences. 1976 Began training as a midwife. Because I was raising young children and running a business, and because there were no CNM schools in my area, becoming a CNM was not within my reach. 1977 Began attending births with the Birth Co-op in Eugene while organizing courses in our community taught by CNMs, physicians, nutritionists, etc. 1978 Began a midwifery practice, New Life Care, with a partner, Chris Howard, and apprentice Monika Dunsmore. 1979 Son born at home. 1980 Did a one-year program with Marion Toepke McLean, CNM. Four of us completed the program, which was modeled after CNM curriculum at that time. She took a year off from her practice to teach us and to go to our births with us. 1982 First group of midwives certified by the Oregon Midwives Council. Our board was composed of CNMs and physicians. 1986 Slowed down practice and started Midwifery Today magazine.

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