What Zebra’s, Bonobo’s, Baboons and Professor Sapolsky have in common

What Zebra’s, Bonobo’s, Baboons and Professor Sapolsky have in common

Let’s start at the end and the beginning at the same time, Professor Robert Sapolsky
, author of “ Why Zebra’s don’t get Ulcers”, points out that even though Zebras are essentially mamals like humans, they do not tend to get diabetes, heart disease,
or ulcers for that matter and they and Professor Sapolski are pretty relaxed about it, so that's what they have in common. The difference between a less relaxed huma and and a Zebra might be that while a Zebra might shut down it’s immune system and digestive system and speed up it’s heart rate to run away from a lion once in a blue moon, humans tend to launch their stress responses on a permanent basis. It’s important to note that someone’s stressor might be somebody elses way of calming down. Not everybody likes to skydive, surf big waves or snowboard off of unchartered mountainpeaks in Alaska, but some people do so quiet joyfully. Nevertheless, industrial work stress is severe and if it is just trying to look likie you are doing something when u get paid to do nothing essentially. Enormous stress. Robbing banks kind of stress.
Bonobo’s don’t have that many choices for stressors or stress relief, but they tend to have a reputation to know how to let five hang.In the rare case that they do have a problem-they make out. Three ways, if necessary. A little penis fight or clit rubbing session and they are all set. They know they have enough resources to last thru the day and there’s really not much reason to fight over a Banana if there is hundrets more growing right over your head. But Bonobo’s get agressive in captivity. Who would have thought? While most animals just get lethargic and arrange themseves with their captor’s in a smart way that get’s them priviledges like extra fish, Bonobo’sget pissed off. They might think it’s not so cool to have to stop making out at the Zoo just cuz a bunch of children and old ladies are watching. They know their Ryder said nothing about a PG-13 audience.
Bonobo’s are smart. They know that those monkeys that get around the jungle the most have the best stories to tell and the most interesting foodstuffs to share.
Back to Robert Sapolski. he’s about as entertaining and funny as a biological neuroscientist could be, lectures at Stanford University and spends every summer for about 25 years with tribes of Baboons in the Savanah of Africa. He tells us that
it takes them only about 3 hours to forage for food, so they have another 9 daylight hours to drive each other absolutely mad and miserable. Prof. Sapolski has a meticulous way of keeping track of these monkeys hormone and seratonin and whatnot levels and notes their ranking in the tribe as well as who is doing what to who.
In an epidemic of tuberculosis one summer half the Baboons died and he noticed that the ones that had died were the ones that had been very high or very low in ranking. In other words, the monkeys that had to constantly guard against challange from below and the one’s that would have to act as punshing bags for whoever lost a fight were the one’s with the weakest immune system and had no reserves of energy left to fight of the disease. The one’s who run off to sulk alone in the woods did not do well either.
The one’s that had a buddy to pick their lice and rub their back survived. No stress. I gotta go out more. You dig?