Yesterday we played a big ol’ game of Manhunt.  See, Amara and Augosti 2 (the alpha) were in a consortship, which basically means Augosti 2 was following Amara around and having his way with her when the mood struck.  Amara seemed wholly uninterested in being someone’s better half and did a lot of walking away from him (nervously, mind you…he’s a jealous sort).  Also, per usual, there was a peeping Tom, a new old guy (he’d been in BA troop before, but not for awhile) named Reid (the guys say his name “Redi”…I don’t know why), who is all kinds of schizo given that he immigrated in from an unhabituated troop.  These males have a rough go of it, because no matter how masculine and tough and aggressive they are, when they see a human they turn tail and hide behind some leaves, blinking.  Anyway, Augosti 2, a bit prickly given the unwanted male attention and the fact that Amara really wanted very little to do with him, spent a lot of time staring down other females (and flirting with others…he kind of acted like a hotshot Hollywood star out with his dowdy wife, under whose nose he openly flirted with young hotties while she pretended to look away…I’m taking liberties here, of course).

At one point, Amara, in what I feel was a masterful move of cunning, made a big show of staring down a path at, well, something.  Augosti 2 took interest and started staring too.  I also tried to stare.   There was nothing there.  Then, when he was really interested, Amara prepared to make a dash for it.  Only, Augosti 2 looked back and White Lown (stupid name,but cool baboon…she looks like a fox), who just happened to be passing by, did so too close and he took off after her.  Taking her chance, Amara fled into the tall grass.  Other baboons scattered in the wake of Augosti 2’s wrath and when he looked up, he had no idea where Amara was.  He searched frantically.  And, then, suddenly, there were six males searching frantically (all the dudes in the troop…seven if you count Makali, the young resident lech who’d already had his go with Amara back when she wasn’t really fertile and tried her best to shake him with a lot of walking and eye-rolling).  Everyone was eager to find the prize.  Me, trying to follow Augosti 2, also began to search frantically.  So there we were, a couple humans and a lot of big, muscly baboons, sweeping through the grasses, eyes wide, in search of a slim little female who’d really rather be home watching the soaps.  We all failed.  She’s a wily bugger.

Later, Augosti 1 ended up finding Amara and stalking her, as is the custom.  She gave him the slip within an hour, though, and later ended up with Sufi.  If baboons could be nuns, I think Amara would be first in line.