NARRATOR: Powerfully built with long, dog-like snouts
and large, formidable teeth, baboons are
often thought of as aggressive.
They are some of the largest and most ill-tempered monkeys
in the world.
The five most well-known species,
including these yellow baboons, are spread
across Africa and Arabia.
Their brawls are notoriously vicious.
But in Kasanka National Park in central Zambia,
there's a sixth species, the kinda baboon.
Until a few years ago, it was thought to be a subspecies
of the yellow baboon.
It's now being classified as a species
in its own right and as such, is almost completely unstudied.
Kinda baboons are more slender than their yellow cousins
and have flatter faces.
They're also furrier, and their hair
has a distinctive soft, silky texture.
But it's their chilled out behavior
that really sets them apart.
Males seem to have abandoned aggression for an altogether
more affable approach to life.
Far more interested in friendship than fighting,
they buck the baboon trend.
Kindas really do seem to be kinder.
But much about these peace-loving primates
is still a mystery.
American biologist, Anna Weyher is determined to change that.
She spent the last six years getting
to know one particular troupe of kinda baboons.
At the beginning, I was doing things--
pretending I was eating grass, not paying attention,
I would groom my fleas by myself--
so they didn't think I was looking at them directly
but acting sort of like them doing the similar things just
to gain their trust and for them to see how I was
not that different from them.
NARRATOR: Looking at fur patterns,
body shapes, and mannerisms has helped Anna and her team
identify over 60 members of a troupe.
But to make studying them easier, individuals need names.
ANNA WEYHER: I decided that I would
name them after musicians.
When a mother, say Ella, every infant she gives birth to,
the name will start with an E. So Ella has Elvis.
Ella has Elton.
Ella has Eminem-- all named after the musicians.
NARRATOR: These musical monkeys all
have distinct personalities.
Garfunkel is a grumpy and uneasy alpha male.
His second in command, Simon, is more laid back.
Among the females, taciturn Ella is outranked
by headstrong Madonna.
Even the newest additions to the troupe
are already displaying different characteristics.
Baby Eminem is bold and curious.
Little Israel is more cautious and reserved.
By living alongside them, Anna and her team
hope to understand more about how these characters
are connected to each other and why
they behave the way they do.