Baboon daughters look a lot like their mothers.  For some the resemblance is so uncanny, on first glance I sometimes mix them up.  Yanani looks a lot like her mother, Yei.  Uvila and Ubergiji look a lot like their mother, Ubena.  Ubergiji’s daughters, Unarasika and USA look a lot like her.  And it’s not rocket science that this should be the case, but for some reason I’m always vaguely surprised by it.  As if humans cornered the market on family resemblances.  Perhaps part of the surprise stems from the fact that when I first arrived last year (and for a good month after that arrival) all the baboons looked more or less identical.  So the fact that they have actually differentiated into family groups – the ones with the weird ear hair, the ones that look vaguely Asian – kind of amazes me a little.

But resemblances don’t stop at looks.  Last year, Unarasika, a young blossom of a baboon, just beginning to swell and mad about the boys, started presenting to me whenever I visited AC.  As mentioned before, a present is when I female sticks her butt in someone’s face and raises her tail so he or she can sniff, poke, or generally make weird tongue smacking sounds while gripping her hips.  Often this butt showing is a greeting or a sign of respect.  Sometimes it’s foreplay.  Once Unarasika did it to me no less than 15 times in a single day.  I wrote her off as crazy.  Then, a few days before I left last year, I was visiting AC for some final follows and Unarasika’s little sister, USA (yeah, like the country), waltzed up to me and presented.  Ridiculous.  “Perhaps it’s a family trait,” I thought.  Now, skip to last week.  I am seeing AC for the first time.  All of them are not quite sure they remember me, or, if they do, whether they really liked me all that much.  Most of them eye me from a distance and give me a wide berth.  I see Unarasika and she seems to forget that we used to be best friends.  A bit dejected, I try my best to not freak anyone out and then, suddenly, USA tentatively approaches me and lifts her tail to give me a prime view of her butt.  I can’t help but laugh.  Ubergiji’s kids clearly have a few screws loose.  But when Ubergiji herself stuck her butt in my face a few days ago, I knew that there were some strong genetics at play.  No other baboon has ever presented to me.  I’ve had a couple kids try to groom me and today a little male in the camp troop put both his hands on my shins in an effort to push me (little punk), but only Ubergiji and her confused offspring have deferentially showed me their posteriors as if I too were a baboon and a pretty darn high-ranking one.