Worst gang-like behavior of animals I every saw was, like, a decade ago at the Cape Point parking lot in South Africa.
This a relatively large lot (being at the round-turn point of a one-way route), with both personal vehicles and tour busses coming and going. There are also a lot of baboons. On the narrow-ish mountain road up and down, these already pester the vehicles every way they can, but once parked, it's when things get truly special, especially for the tour busses.
First, the baboon females parade past a bus, with infants on their back. The tourists are delighted by this, and rush out with their cameras. Then, the females retreat into the bushes, which further distracts the humans.
Then, the males, which have been hiding in the nearby trees, descend upon the bus, and absolutely ransack it. Everything that can be taken (and that's mostly bags and coats) gets dragged into the trees. Then, they triumphantly go through the loot, redistribute anything that's edible or otherwise interesting, and toss the rest.
It's scary how well these animals instinctively understand the way we behave...
As soon as I read South Africa I knew this was headed towards baboons. I had very similar experiences with them in the mountains around Cape Town when I was there...it's definitely some sort of uncanny valley watching them operate. They understand when tourists mock them, taunting is taken almost as an insult, and as you said -- their criminal enterprises are very sophisticated.
"Leaned behavior" to me means that they previously saw other, non-baboon, groups rob tourists in the same way, which seems unlikely?
This feels more like a situation where the baboons realized that "these humans have yummy stuff" followed by "hey, and this is how we can distract them in order to grab it"
Thanks for your detailed explanation of where I went wrong. Correcting non-native speakers on their mis-use of fringe vocabulary sure feels good, doesn't it?
I was never as scared of wildlife in my life, as one time in a Malaysian tourist trap that housed a gang of baboons. Jesus, they were ferocious. Once the mood changed, there was no stopping them.
Never get close to wild animals unless you have training and a good reason to do so. These people's behavior is insane. FWIW, I disagree with the retired Air Force colonel quoted in the article. These raccoons weren't rabid. But it doesn't matter, getting close to them is all kinds of wrong. Stay away.
> this parasite's eggs are easy to acquire, able to live for years, extremely resistant to many disinfectants, and cause serious infections in humans with poor treatment options
We have about 4-5 raccoons that visit my yard once a week or so (more in the summer). They like to defecate at the base of our trees. I usually boil a large pot of water and pour it over the poops to kill off any of the parasite eggs.
I thought, after readiung the earlier article of the Washington state racoon home invasion, that it seemed like they were driven out into human habitation due to some sort of change in food availability.
I've had racoons living near by come through my yard routinely, and have even fed some occassionally, but to have so many come out all at once seems like some sort of symptom.
My theory: too many primates! To solve all of humanity's and the rest of world's problems, reduce the number of humans to 1/10th.
Raccoon hooliganism is pretty frequent here in Connecticut. They usually aren't dangerous around my house (as human contact is unfortunately common), but I'd be more weary of a solo racoon during the day with regards to rabies than a gang at night. Of course, I wouldn't touch one regardless.
Usually during the day, they'll just scurry as fast as possible to stuff their fat bodies into the nearest curbside sewer drain. If they don't, I'd get away.
When we lived in the bay area we had a sun room that was all floor to ceiling windows. Occasionally we would hear scratching late at night and go in to check. Mobs of raccoons! Sometimes 20+ would be peaking inside and checking around the perimeter of the house. I remember taking some cool high ISO black and white film photos one night.
Years ago, there used to be a huge population of raccoons here in Silicon Valley. I used to see raccoons the size of border collies walking down the sidewalk at night. I was starting to expect to see one carrying a briefcase.
One night I came home from work to find an army (maybe a dozen) of raccoons ripping up my lawn with their little hands. Just peeling up the turf. Turned out I had grubs.
Lately, I don't see them. I wonder if the city did something to limit the population. I still see some holes in my lawn where they're testing for grubs, so the population is not zero.
Indiana Dunes State Park
got mobbed by racoons,while trying to cook
many many racoons,so I started to throw rocks
didnt fase em,so I started to throw harder and closer,didnt fase em,I started aiming to kill
they all left quick, then
This a relatively large lot (being at the round-turn point of a one-way route), with both personal vehicles and tour busses coming and going. There are also a lot of baboons. On the narrow-ish mountain road up and down, these already pester the vehicles every way they can, but once parked, it's when things get truly special, especially for the tour busses.
First, the baboon females parade past a bus, with infants on their back. The tourists are delighted by this, and rush out with their cameras. Then, the females retreat into the bushes, which further distracts the humans.
Then, the males, which have been hiding in the nearby trees, descend upon the bus, and absolutely ransack it. Everything that can be taken (and that's mostly bags and coats) gets dragged into the trees. Then, they triumphantly go through the loot, redistribute anything that's edible or otherwise interesting, and toss the rest.
It's scary how well these animals instinctively understand the way we behave...