s. Moreover, the baboons didn't need the crops to survive. The crops represent a very large and very high-quality food compared to grass blades, roots of herbs, small berries and other items in a baboon's natural diet (Strum, Moving). According to Strum, the farmers tried to put up fences to keep the baboons away from the crops. However, they came to realize that the fences were no barrier to animals that can jump, climb, dig and pull apart; even electric fences can be outsmarted. Guarding also usually failed because the baboons waited until the humans weren't looking. We also explored new techniques to discourage raiding. These included playbacks of baboon alarm calls, various scaring devices and hot-pepper treatments. The only method to show promise was taste-aversion conditioning, in which chemicals are added to the crops to make the animals sick. If they got sick enough, they would avoid eating the crops in the future. The problem was that the only safe chemical was salty and could be easily detected by the animals. This meant we needed a different chemical if taste aversion was to be widely used (Strum, Moving)....
