While reading the book, Baboon Metaphysics, I came to the conclusion that there is more to Baboons than what meets the eye. Cheney and Seyfarth do a wonderful job on exploring the complex and mysterious world of Baboons, focusing in on their social structures, relationships, and even touching on aspects of a possible language. The authors make it clear that baboons have an understanding of bonds, ranks and social networks. I also believe that baboons have a clear and intricate understanding of social networks and hierarchical ranks because of the amount of evidence shown. To begin, I will set out to present the research presented by Cheney and Seyfarth in Baboon Metaphysics concerning baboon social bonds and networks. In the chapter five of the book, Cheney and Seyfarth observe the social bonds and rank recognition between female baboons. Like humans, baboons differ in social ranks and are exposed to different environmental stress factors. When a female baboon is faced with the loss of an infant or relative, for example, she experiences stress. Due to this stress, she forms stronger and broader bonds and social networks. Because their feelings of loneliness increases, the formation of social bonds and networks alleviates it. Humans also rely on friends and relatives greatly when trying to cope with the loss of a loved one. Besides strengthening their social networks, female baboons also tend to strengthen their grooming networks when coping with the loss of a loved one. For example, their grooming partners increase as well as their grooming rate. In the next paragraph, I will set out to examine male social networks. In male baboons, the behavior that is seen in female baboons is not evident. Whereas female baboons are mainly stressed by factors such as infant loss, predation, and rank instability, male baboons are mainly stressed by dominance rank, longevity and predation. Male baboons are not as stressed by rank instability as they are by dominance rank. For example, a male baboon throughout his life is primarily concerned with achieving dominant rank, always striving for a higher position in the hierarchy. Although we would expect a higher ranking dominant male to experience less stress than a lower ranking subordinate male, this is not the case. According to Cheney and Seyfarth, higher ranking male baboons tend to experience more stress than lower ranking male baboons, especially during rank instability. This is because the dominant male’s power and reproductive control is threatened and he may feel as if it could be taken away. In the next part, I will set out to examine the evidence shown that baboons know of other animal’s dominance ranks, which also has to do with social networks. In baboons, particularly female baboons, rank is not distinguished by one’s size, age, or other physical attributes. Therefore, there has to be something else that allows baboons to know what one’s rank is. When observing female baboons in tasks such as grooming, it is evident that rank plays a role and is recognizable. According to Cheney and Seyfarth’s research, if female baboons are grooming and a dominant female approaches them, the lower-ranking female usually leaves, thus recognizing her own rank and the dominant female’s rank. To prove that females have an intricate understanding of rank in the society, Joan Silk, Cheney and Seyfarth designed an experiment to test their understanding. In the next paragraph, I will go into detail of what the experiment involved. The experiment that Joan Silk, Cheney and Seyfarth carried out was an experiment involving sound playback. The experiment essentially used call sequences from various baboons of different rank and mimicked an interaction between the female baboons that went against the dominance hierarchy. The sequence they used contained grunts from a lower ranking female along with a series of fear barks from a higher ranking female. This was essentially a violation of the female dominance hierarchy because a higher ranking female would not give fear grunts to a lower ranking female. They also added grunts of an even higher ranking female than the other two to serve as a control. This sequence mimicked an actual scenario that happened with the female baboons. This sequence was played back in a number of trials to a female unrelated to the scenario throughout the course of several days and her response was recorded. Cheney and Seyfarth’s prediction was that the baboon would respond in surprise by paying attention to the loudspeaker for a period of time, recognizing that the female dominance hierarchy was being violated. Cheney and Seyfarth played sequences of consistent and inconsistent calls, consistent ones agreeing with the female dominance hierarchy and inconsistent ones violating the female dominance hierarchy. Indeed, the subjects who were played back these calls looked at the loudspeaker significantly longer when the inconsistent calls were played as opposed to the consistent calls being played. Thus, the subjects seemed to understand who was of higher rank and who was of lower rank, responding in a stronger fashion when the inconsistent calls were played. Next, I will set out to examine an experiment by Cheney, Seyfarth and Dawn Kitchen, involving male Wahoo call recognition. Wahoo calls are “extremely loud, low-pitched calls that can be produced only by large, fuly adult males (p. 52).” A Wahoo call is also seen as “an exhausting demonstration of a male’s stamina and coordination (p. 52),” because they are done in long bouts, most of the time as the male baboons are racing or leaping from tree branch to tree branch. To test whether or not males recognize rank by a baboon male’s Wahoo call, individual baboon males were exposed to playbacks of Wahoo sequences that “mimicked a contest between either adjacently ranked ir disparately ranked males (p. 95).” As a control, the experiment only involved calls between adjacently and disparately ranked males which had interacted at the same rate in the past six months. Higher ranking males responded strongly to the playback between the disparate ranks, and less strongly to the playback between the adjacent males. The results showed that “males recognize each other’s Wahoos and can assess the distance in rank between any two males (p. 95).” This shows that males also have an intricate understanding of social networks and ranks because ranks change so often within the male baboon hierarchy. In the next paragraph, I will examine baboon knowledge and recognition of other animals’ kinship relations. Throughout much research, it has been established that baboons know who their own family members and kin are. Cheney and Seyfarth conducted an experiment involving two unrelated female baboons as their subjects, one being dominant to the other. The experiment consisted of three sequences of calls consisting of two other individuals’ threat grunts and screams. Essentially, the experiment was aimed to mimic a scenario in which a higher-ranking baboon threatens a lower-ranking baboon with aggressive grunts and the lower-ranking baboon in turn screams. The first time the experiment was run, neither one of the subjects involved were related to the subjects being tested. In the second run, one of the subjects was a close relative of the dominant female, and the other was unrelated to either one. In the third run, one of the subjects was a close relative of the dominant female being tested and the other subject was a close relative of the subordinate female being tested. In the first run where neither of the subjects were related to the females being tested, both females showed little or no interest in what was happening. In the second run where the subject was a relative of the dominant female, the subordinate female looked in the dominant females direction, as if she knew that the subject in the playback was related to the dominant female. The dominant female did not look at the subordinate female. In the third run, where both subjects were related to one of the females being tested, both female baboons looked at one another. As a result, both subjects seemed as if they recognized that their family members were involved in an argument and this caused conflict in their relationship as well. All in all, the experiment proved that baboons indeed recognize each other’s kin and also that baboons are not only influenced by their own interactions with each other, but also by the interactions of their family members with others. In the next part of the paper, I will examine male baboon relationships and tracking of sexual consortships. So far, we have seen that male dominance ranks change often and that male baboons are very good at keeping track of these changes, concerning themselves and others. Along with tracking each other’s ever so changing ranks, male baboons also seem to monitor each other’s sexual consortships. If an alpha male is mating with his female, the other male baboons keep an eye on the pair, and once the alpha male is not around, the other males come around to quickly mate with the female. If the alpha male abandons the female after their sexual consortship ends, other males try to form a sexual consortship or try to mate with her. An experiment was conducted by Cathy Crockford and Roman Witting to see how closely male baboons monitor other’s sexual consortships. The experiment consisted of three playback calls. The first trial consisted of a male’s consort grunt and played from one speaker and a female copulation call played from the other speaker, suggesting that the alpha male had separated from his consort and that she was secretly mating with another male. The second trial was similar to the first trial, except for a grunt of a nonconsorting alpha male was played from one speaker and the same female’s copulation call was played from the other speaker, implying that the sexual consortship between the alpha male and the female was still going on and that another male was simply close to their area. The third trial, played after the consortship had ended, consisted of the same consorting male’s grunt from the first trial and the same female’s copulation call, suggesting that the alpha male had separated from the female and that she was again mating with another male. The males were expected to react strongest to the first trial, not at all to the second trial because it should have been unsurprising, and not at all to the third trial because it should have been unsurprising as well, if the male had been keeping a close eye on the consortship. As a result, this is how most males reacted. When hearing the first trial, they looked toward the speakers and even approached them because they inferred that the alpha male had separated from his consort and that she was engaged in mating with another male, suggesting that further mating may be possible. This showed that in a social network, not only do males keep watch of their and other males’ rankings, but also of other’s sexual consortships. In the next part of the paper, I will proceed to examine a field study of social cognition in spotted hyenas studied by Kay E. Holenkamp and Anne L. Engh, and to compare it to baboon social networks. Like most baboons and monkeys, carnivorous mammals also live in permanent and complex social groups and also engage in group activities, such as hunting. In this article, the objective was to determine whether or not hyenas have the same cognitive abilities as do primates, such as recognizing one another’s calls or kinfolk. Like primates, hyenas acquire rank according to the ranks of their mothers, and this goes for both sexes. Their social status is not determined by their physical attributes, such as size or strength. Hyenas, like monkeys, know they are dominant over hyenas that rank lower than their mothers do. A similar experiment was used for the hyenas as was used with vervet monkeys. In the experiment concerning vervet monkeys, a distress scream from a juvenile was played through a hidden speaker. The scream was played to a group of female vervet monkeys, including the juvenile’s mother. The mother responded stronger than the other female vervet monkeys, but the other females often looked at the mother when hearing the scream, as if recognizing that she was the juvenile’s mother. The experiment was run with hyenas to identify whether or not hyenas can recognize one another and third-party relationships based on their “whoop” vocalizations. The results showed that hyenas were capable of identifying the “whoop” sounds of other individuals, but there was no evidence that they were capable of identifying third-party relationships. In the next part of the paper, I will set out to examine an article by Cheney and Seyfarth concerning a study on the structure of social knowledge in monkeys. Vervet monkeys live in groups of 8-30 individuals. Their ranks are also determined by their mothers, offspring ranking immediately below their mothers. Vervet monkeys, like baboons, are very social and family oriented. Most social interactions and alliances are formed within families. Vervet’s are also capable of recognizing their kin and associations of other group members. For example, if a vervet monkey is involved in a conflict with another monkey, he will threaten the opponents family soon after. Also, as seen in baboons, vervet monkeys are capable of recognizing the ranks of one another. For example, if a higher ranking mother approaches a lower ranking mother holding an infant and she grunts at her, wanting to handle the infant, the lower ranking mother will hand over the infant. Sometimes lower-ranking females will make “fear barks” when approached by a more dominant female, indicating subordination. An experiment was performed to test whether or not the monkeys are aware that only a subordinate female can make a “fear bark.” This experiment was done by playing back a sequence in which a lower-ranking female grunted at a higher-ranking female and the higher-ranking female emitted a “fear bark.” As a control, the same females were used but a more dominant female was included. The subjects tested responded strongest to the inconsistent sequence, as if they realized the identities and the ranks of the subjects on the playback. This suggests that vervet monkeys have similar understanding of social networks, kinship and ranks as do baboons. In the following paragraph, I will set out to conclude the discussion on the subject of baboon social knowledge. As discussed throughout the paper, baboons clearly have intricate knowledge of their social networks and surrounding baboons. They know to recognize individuals belonging to their families and third-party relationships. Not only that, but they recognize their rank and the ranks of others. This is surprising in males, since their ranks change rapidly, yet they still keep track of them. They are prominent at realizing an individual’s identity by just listening to the sounds they make. Males, again, are good at recognizing another male by just their Wahoo call. Also, not only do they recognize one another, males keep track of the courtships of other males, in hope of mating and reproducing themselves. After presented with all of this evidence, to say that baboons do not have an intricate understanding of their social network is preposterous. Some may say that it is anthropomorphic of us to attribute human behaviors to baboons, but just like humans, baboons form social networks to bond and cope with problems, recognize their kinfolk and friendships, pay attention to third-party relationships, and so on. While reading Baboon Metaphysics, it just deepened my understanding of baboon social structures and how complex they truly are. To me, there is no way that baboons can be distinguished as not having a complete and complex understanding of their social structures.