I'm Bill Bailey and I'm in Cape Town
to introduce you to three unique families of baboons.
The Smitz troop - where boys behave badly...
..the rustic rascals, the Tokai troop...
..and, finally, the urbanites of Da Gama.
We're going inside the troop, giving us a unique chance
to follow the highs and lows of family life...
..and some of the challenges that man and beast face
living cheek by jowl.
This time, the Smitz troop are hoping for
(GEORDIE ACCENT) a little fishy when the boat comes in.
And in the Tokai Forest, it's the baboon gymnastics.
There's more rivalry, politics and casual violence
than a British provincial town.
Life's not easy...being a baboon.
As the countryside becomes more and more developed,
it's inevitable that wildlife will have to live alongside us.
Some species won't be able to adapt.
But given half a chance, many will.
Like the baboons.
They're very quick thinking and creative
when it comes to exploiting their human neighbours.
But with a bit of sensitivity and some tolerance,
life for both species could be a lot happier.
Living alongside us can be tough,
but our urban warriors are pretty good at getting by.
As the sun rises on South Africa's southern peninsula,
the lay-bys and verges on the coastal road
that runs south from Cape Town
seem unusually quiet.
Most days, the Smitz troop are found here,
rifling through parked cars for a sandwich
while tourists watch the whales.
But today those sarnies may lie undisturbed.
This is Fred, the troop's alpha male.
Normally he's busy organising the tourists' mugging rota.
But today the roadside traffic holds no allure.
This is the object of his desire,
a foxy female called Josie.
To him, Josie's colourful rump is irresistible.
This signals that she is at her most fertile
but this window of opportunity will last at most for ten days.
While she's in the mood, he will shadow her every move.
But his motives aren't purely romantic.
He wants to stop other males from muscling-in
and make sure that he is the only one to father her offspring.
In baboon society, "just good friends" doesn't mean things won't develop -
more like "friends with benefits".
She leads him to her private boudoir up in the cliffs.
But while the boss is busy, the rest of the troop are up to some mischief.
On the weekends, recreational fishermen flock to the coast,
eager to head out to sea to catch a popular game fish, snoek.
Their launch site overlooks False Bay,
so called because sailors believed, falsely, as it turned out,
that they had successfully navigated the stormy Cape Of Good Hope.
While the fishermen are preoccupied with parking cars and floating boats,
they are being watched.
Discarded rubbish is definitely worth investigating,
but there's one thing the thieving Smitz troop can't resist - a parked car.
Hooks, and er...snoeks on their mind, these fisher folk forget to shut their windows.
As the fishing boats leave,
the baboons seize their chance to check out every vehicle.
But sometimes curiosity can backfire.
One of the younger males, Pinky, has broken his little finger.
And this little one, missing half an arm, is called Shortcut.
It's the price to pay for meddling fingers.
Shortcut was so badly electrocuted that he lost his hand and tail
but amazingly it healed and it doesn't seem to have slowed him down.
Like potential buyers, the baboons inspect each vehicle.
Bodywork's sound. Hm.
Aerial's pretty whippy.
Wing-mirror's OK.
This dodgy rear wiper needs some attention.
Hm. One owner you say?
Maybe overdone it with the waxing.
When the fishermen return,
they may not appreciate all the free hours maintenance put in
by this group of baboon mechanics.
Meanwhile, far from the coast, deep in the forest nestled beneath the mountains,
the Tokai troop are being shadowed by the new kid on the block - Clint.
Having travelled here from a neighbouring troop,
this young male is trying to win friends and influence people -
well, other baboons.
Clint follows from a safe distance.
He wants to be accepted so that he can have the protection
of a family around him once more.
So far it's only youngsters like this one
that have said a friendly hello, by lip smacking.
The big males have been much harder to sway,
but today Clint has a visitor.
Maegerli is the veteran of the troop,
with his distinctive floppy jaws, damaged by many fights.
He's seen it all before.
Maegerli has been watching Clint
and his response to the interloper
could be critical to Clint's chances of being accepted into the troop.
Clint is understandably nervous.
But instead of giving warning signs such as staring or yawning,
Maegerli lip-smacks - a friendly gesture.
It looks as though Clint has won the approval of the slack-jawed oldster.
This is a major breakthrough for the young baboon.
Having one of the big males on side speeds up acceptance into the Tokai.
As in human society, it's all about who you know.
Set in the middle of the Tokai's forest home
is an academy with sports grounds and training centre -
a great recreation site and not just for humans.
It's sports day, baboon style.
The team is warming up on the pitch.
Like children, young baboons love to play.
It strengthens their bodies and challenges their minds.
It's a fun way of training for the demands of adulthood.
But all sportsmen must know their limits.
The young males are much more gung-ho than their sisters.
While the girls like to hang out with mum, grooming,
the boys often play rough - a sign of things to come.
Though baboons largely forage on the ground
and have limbs of equal length for walking on all fours,
they retain the monkey mountaineering skills.
Their stout, rubbery fingers enable them to grip slippery surfaces.
Adults spend less time playing than the youngsters,
though they still need to keep fit.
For heavily-pregnant Berta,
just getting up the stairs to the gym is hard enough.
Here's the troop's favourite event -
the rope-climb with water hazard.
The youngsters hadn't realised this was a "mixed" pool
and suddenly seem a bit shy.
Looks like Troy doesn't want to get his feet wet.
All baboons are curious, their big brains wanting to explore everything they find,
but for some reason this little toad is making them jumpy.
The gatecrasher is an endangered Western Leopard Toad.
Like the baboons, it's suffered as a result of urbanisation on the Cape.
It's a protected species...
but not from these crazy oiks.
This is a new event - upside-down tightrope fighting.
The universal culture of sport -
baboons are able to grasp ropes rather like humans,
as they have opposable fingers and thumbs.
The toad has his pond to himself at last.
(SCREECHING)
On the coast, the wind is picking up and the water is getting choppy.
It's time for the fishermen to return and process their catch.
Eagerly watched by the Smitz troop, the men unload the fish.
It's been a good day - though the mood might
change when they see the state of their wipers.
The fishermen attract a curious crowd of baboons.
Females with young to suckle always seem to have huge appetites.
But will the Smitz gang switch from roadside robbery to scrounging a fish supper?
I'm Bill Bailey and I'm on the Cape Peninsula in southern South Africa
where the local baboon population is running out of space.
Wilderness is disappearing as the human population expands,
meaning that like it or not, baboons have to share their patch.
The members of the Smitz troop have come to rely on handouts from people
instead of the native plants of the Cape -
and that's where the trouble starts.
People feed baboons without realising the potential danger,
encouraging them to lose their fear of humans.
You see, if you feed baboons, then it's like saying to them
it's OK to take food from people at any time, but of course it isn't.
But by making that association, it sends out a mixed message to the baboons.
You can't blame them for getting confused
and sadly a baboon that pushes things too far is likely to be deemed dangerous and be shot.
The signs clearly say don't feed the baboons, but some can't resist.
One troop led astray by people breaking the rules is the Smitz.
Usually, it's tourists leaving their cars unlocked
but today, down in the harbour car park,
the fishermen are playing their part in teaching the baboons bad habits
by sharing their lunch.
Alpha male Fred is treating his new lady friend, Josie,
to a romantic spot of lunch overlooking the harbour.
Being the old charmer that he is,
Fred tries to pick out a bottle that befits the occasion.
But the vintage looks very suspect.
Fred, I'd just put that down and walk away.
Local families often bring their kids to Miller's Point
for a "braai" - "barbecue" to us Brits -
and the tempting aromas have caught Fred's sensitive nose.
With young children, the last thing this couple need is a pair of baboon gate crashers.
They're not even all out of the car - when Fred gets in.
Getting between a mother and her young -
of any species - is a risky business.
Fred barely seems to notice the beating - the stolen hot dog bun was worth it.
But being fearless could lead to trouble with his human neighbours.
On a sports field in the middle of the Tokai Forest,
the athletes are worn out from a busy day and are getting a bit irritable.
These young males are nearing sexual maturity.
With surging hormones, they need to let off steam.
The tension between the young males is getting out of hand.
Older male, Clint, has recently joined the Tokai from another troop.
A new kid on the block puts more pressure
on the other boys to leave home.
Males aren't allowed to stay in the family once they've reached breeding age,
to avoid any funny business with their sisters.
Danny, the fiery-tempered alpha,
keeps a stern eye on these adolescents,
but surprisingly he doesn't intervene.
He knows they're no threat to him.
As they mature, they'll either leave or he'll kick them out
before they get too big for their boots.
There are only so many stroppy teenagers
that Danny can tolerate moping around the forest.
Pregnant Berta gets out of the way at her own speed -
things could get rough.
Manny is the eldest. By now he should have left this troop for another.
But on the crowded peninsula, it's difficult for him to leave.
Frustrated, he throws his weight around, picking on the smaller boys.
There's one member of the troop who has been fighting his own battle,
a little male who nearly lost an eye on a barbed-wire fence.
Baby Cyclops is taking brave steps on his own for the first time.
Now he's regained his sight,
he is at last confident enough to leave his mother's side
and learn to climb the trees that will be his home.
His mum, Persepolis, is staying close, watching, comfortably within reach.
It seems that her little one is finally making friends of his own.
He's a fighter - maybe he'll take after his dad.
He's already a bundle of trouble.
The younger baboons head inside the nearby sports academy.
Perhaps they'll even pick up a few leadership skills here.
are taught at the academy.
Though, to the untrained eye,
it looks like a perfect baboon adventure playground.
(CLATTERING)
These pupils have no respect for class discipline.
That was always a favourite game of mine - trying to wind up the teacher.
There's just too much good stuff in here for a bad baboon boy to ignore.
And, of course, you can never have enough rope.
That'll be school out, then.
For the Smitz troop, another day of mischief is drawing to a close.
These choosy monkeys have become so used to stealing snacks from cars
that amazingly they turn up their nose at the scraps of fish.
I suppose sushi is an acquired taste.
As the men secure their boats,
it's time for Shortcut and the gang to ship out too,
taking with them the spoils of the day.
But Merlin's not done yet.
The divers have been on a collecting mission for the local aquarium
and now have a trunk of specimens they need to rush back to the tanks.
But they can only stand and wait while they clear baboon customs.
The team guard their catch
but that doesn't stop Merlin from giving their car a good once-over.
Eventually, even Merlin is forced to admit defeat.
As the relieved divers start heading for home,
it looks like Merlin will have to make do with a healthy plant diet for a change.
Merlin's been outfoxed...but not for long.
There's a plan forming behind those wily eyes...
for the biggest heist of all.
Next time... Will Merlin get his revenge?
The younger members of the Smitz gatecrash a paddling party.
And what's this? It looks like Clint has a date.
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