It has been in the news recently that the baboon exhibit at the Toronto Zoo had to close temporarily. The reason: Following the death of the matriarch, there was a power struggle.
The reason why I find this fascinating is that these baboons weren’t fighting for food. They were not fighting for sex. They were not fighting for a more cozy sleeping place or anything else tangible.
No… they were fighting for power.
That such an abstract concept not only exists in the animal world but may even prompt a vicious fight might upset those who maintain illusions about the noble animal world. But then, perhaps the animal world is not that different from the world of humans.
We all came from the same place, after all.
The next time a bellicose politician, ruler or warlord makes a threat, brandishing fancy weapons of war, in some vainglorious quest for power, just think of one word: baboon.