From the full episode: Joe Phillips: The Baboon That Tried to Take My Child's Banana | The BEYOND Podcast

A nice resort in South Africa, a one-year-old eating a banana on the balcony, and a baboon bigger than a man reaching through the door. In this clip from his episode of The BEYOND Podcast with host Aleksandra King, Joe Phillips, trained zoologist and founder of Surf Balm, tells the story of a mother's instinct kicking in as he and his wife squared up to a wild baboon to protect their daughter. It is a vivid window into a man who can watch a troop of baboons for hours and still respect exactly how strong and how human those hands are. Watch below, read the full transcript, and find the complete conversation on the anchor page.

Full transcript

I have always been curious about nature. I could sit and watch a troop of baboons or elephant for hours and just be like, what are you thinking right now? I will tell you a story. The baboons, they are feisty little things. I was in a really nice resort in South Africa, outside on the balcony looking at the ocean, in my own world with my one year old. She was eating a banana, and then I looked and there was a baboon bigger than a man looking at me. He started towards me and reached out to take the banana off my child. On instinct I just shoved her behind the doors, and he is coming towards me. His hand, human hands, honestly the nails, you could see it, so human, it is crazy. And he was so strong, trying to open the sliding door, and I am shouting for my husband. My husband runs, and both of us versus this baboon. And the baboon is looking, and I am like, oh no you don't, you are not eating my child. Mother's instinct, my strength, I tell you.

Watch the full conversation: Joe Phillips: The Baboon That Tried to Take My Child's Banana | The BEYOND Podcast