Weekly Wilderness Webinar 15
This week we watched an intriguing interaction between a Mouse, a Krait Snake, and a group of Capuchin Monkeys.
da da daaa....the snake slithered into the scene. The sprightly little capuchin monkeys with their rockstar hairstyles and expression-full faces, crept out of their rocky hiding place to take a look at the threatening, new arrival. I could imagine them saying:
'Look at that!'
'What is he doing here'
'We better keep an eye on what he is up to'.
The long, yellow-and-black striped Krait snake slithered along the sandy soil and then, with focused intent. He suddenly did a right turn and squeezed up a crack between the rocks. He seemed to know what he was looking for - it was a mouse.
The mouse initially sat paralyzed, weighing up his options 'should I jump up, or should I launch myself downwards to escape?' He made the wrong choice and soon the elastic, wide jaws of the Krait snake closed around his furry, little, grey body. He was trapped.
The Capuchin onlookers now decided it was time to jump into action. One capuchin started throwing stones down at the gorging snake. His team member tried to grab the mouse, that was slowly being swallowed, from the wide-open, but clasped jaws of the snake. The Capuchin monkeys won the battle.
The title of the video was the Capuchin monkey rescues the mouse!
Not likely, that mouse was now a Capuchin monkey meal instead of Krait snake snack.
LIFE INSIGHT 1
The Capuchins were intelligently strategic. First, they watched and assessed the situation. Protecting themselves was the first priority. Second different members of the group took on individual roles to achieve the same ends - an easy meal, that had been caught for them.
In business, life, and relationships, it is always helpful to have time to reflect before launching into action. Often you need to go slow to speed up.
When you have several team members who can play different roles to achieve the same goal, your likelihood of success is greater, than one person operating in isolation.
LIFE INSIGHT 2
The snake had many disadvantages:
He was advancing into someone else's territory
He was alone, the Capuchins had a team of resources
He was low on the ground, with limited vision, they were high up with a panoramic view
He had limited physical resources, only one mouth, and one strategy; the Capuchins had multiple strategies, they had mouths, hands, and legs.
The Life insight here is that if we are acting on our own, our advantage is a singular focus, and an ability to go where others can't (the snake could get into the crack in the rock in a way the capuchin monkeys could not)
However, most species, especially us humans, depend on relationships, interconnectedness, and networking.
LIFE INSIGHT 3
Let's look at the Capuchins Strategies:
One strategy was to throw rocks to distract and hurt the snake so that the snake gave up his catch. In this strategy, the capuchin had the advantage of height, weight, and surprise. It was also a good use of the environment.
The second strategy was a cautious grab and run. This felt riskier as it was up close and personal, but the rock-throwing support certainly gave the grab-and-run capuchin more courage.
The business insights from Capuchins' tactics are evident: there is good business success when you make sure you are advantaged in resources and you are being adaptative in your work environment. The grab-and-run tactic is less risky when your competition is distracted by your fellow workers - smile.
LIFE INSIGHT 4
The mouse had options as to how it could escape, but in its panic, it made the wrong one.
The life insight here is not to allow fear to paralyze your thoughts and emotions so that you don't make precipitous, life-threatening decisions; but instead, you 'keep your head' by staying calm, cool, and calculating.
To join in please email me on wildernessencountersafrica@gmail.com
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