# La Science s'aMuse: From the mourning of chacma baboons to the conservatory of anatomy

Welcome to La science s'aMuse, the scientific program co-produced by the UM and Divergence-FM, which takes you on a cruise through the archipelago of Muse laboratories. This week, Elise Huchard, a primatologist atISEM, shows us how chacma baboons mourn the death of their young. In the second half of the program, collections manager Marie-Angeline Pinail takes us on a tour of an emblematic site in the Faculty of Medicine: the Anatomy Conservatory.

This month sees the publication of the 14th issue of LUM, the university's quarterly popular science magazine. Entitled "Animalement votre", it features a special report on animals. As you turn the pages, our researchers take you to the open sea in the wake of bluefin tuna, to the West Indies in the footsteps of the first rodents to appear on these islands over 30 million years ago, in search of ecologically rare species with Nicolas Loiseau, whom we interviewed here a while back (listen to the program here), or to Namibia with our guest of the day.

Elise Huchard is a researcher at theInstitut des sciences de l'évolution de Montpellier (ISEM). Her thesis, begun in 2005, led her to meet the chacma baboons at the gateway to the Namib desert. She has continued to observe them ever since, eventually becoming co-director of the Tsaobis Baboon project, about which she will say a few words. She is the co-author of a highly acclaimed study on mourning in chacma baboon mothers, published in March 2020, and is delighted to be here to talk about it today.

In the second half of the program, we take you to the Faculty of Medicine's anatomy conservatory. At a time when cultural venues are sorely lacking, collections manager Marie-Angeline Pinail opens the doors of this extraordinary space. In the 19th century, it was in this sanctuary of medical knowledge that generations of students were trained: thanatopraxy, teratology, comparative anatomy, casts and waxwork - in all, more than 13,000 items make up this collection. An astonishing visit that questions our relationship with the body, illness, death and, in a way... the sacred.

La science s'aMuse, you've got the map, let's get on board!

Co-production: Université de Montpellier / Divergence-fm
Animation : Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview: Lucie Lecherbonnier/ Aline Périault
Reportage : Lucie Lecherbonnier/ Aline Périault
Editing : Lucie Lecherbonnier
Production : Bruno Bertrand

Listen to the "A LUM LA SCIENCE" program on Divergence FM 93.9