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Social problems

Even by day, life is no walk in the park for baboons. But like us, at least they can see much better in the light. They live in large troops, which means many pairs of eyes to spot a threat, and more combined force to fight off a predator. Safety in numbers gives baboons surprising confidence, in fact they’re downright cocky! For our ancestors too, sticking together was the best chance of avoiding ending up as cat food. The communal life created new challenges and forced us to really start using our brains. Living together brings a whole new element: a social life, and the bigger your group, the bigger your social problems can be. You need a bigger brain to cope. In a group, working at friendships and alliances is crucial. You need to remember who’s who and what’s what. You need to be a diplomat so you don’t get on the wrong side of those with more powerful weapons than you. A single social gaffe can be disastrous.

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