Savanna Baboon

Savanna Baboon Papio cynocephalus

SUBSPECIES
Olive baboon Papio cynocephalus anubis
Guinea baboon Papio cynocephalus paplo
Yellow baboon Papio cynocephalus cynocephalus
Chacma baboon Papio cynocephalus ursinus

WHAT IT IS

A big monkey with a dog (cyno) head (cephalus). Powerful build with shoulders higher than withers, and sturdy limbs. Male wt 59-97 lb (27-44 kg), head and body length 29 in (72.5 cm); Female wt 31 37 lb (14 17 kg), head and body length 24 in (60 cm). (Data for chacma; wt of Male olive baboon up to 110 lb (50 kg). Tail 22 to 34 in (56-84 cm), carried like riding whip (sharply kinked in yellow baboon). Head close set eyes below prominent brow ridge; sizeable, nearly naked ears; long muzzle and powerful jaws. Teeth adult males armed with knife edged canines 2.5 in (5 cm) long. Hands, feet wide, with stubby digits, thumb and forefinger fully opposable with precision grip. Coat coarse, varying from long in Guinea and olive baboons, including a cape in males, to short in yellow and chacma baboons. Color: brindled, olive brown (olive baboon), yellowbrown (yellow baboon), reddish brown (Guinea baboon), or greenish brown with dark lower limbs (chacma baboon); nose, lips, ears, hands, and feet black; callosities, rump, and scrotum colored like face, shiny and often with purplish tinge in adults (pink in Guinea baboon). Juveniles lighter colored than adults; infants black with red faces and genitals. Penis pink, with bone.

WHERE IT LIVES

The most widespread African primate, a tramp species found throughout savanna and arid zones wherever water and secure sleeping places (trees or cliffs) occur. Destruction of primary forest, agricultural expansion, and local extinction of predators have enabled it to expand its range.

GOOD PLACES TO SEE IT

Innumerable. Tanzania's Manyara NP has probably the highest baboon density of any park in Africa.

ECOLOGY

Monopolizes the niche for a monkey able to forage equally well in trees and on ground, and to range far from refuges. Hamadryas and gelada baboons are still more terrestrial and subsistent on grasses, but replaced by savanna baboon everywhere they formerly ranged except for most arid parts of northeast Africa (hamadrayas), and cold montane grasslands of the Ethiopian Highlands. Able to satisfy water needs largely from food and dew, but most troops drink regularly; dig wells in dry stream beds.
Diet includes an enormous variety of plants grasses (the mainstay in typical savanna habitats), tubers, bulbs, roots, leaves, buds, flowers, fruits, seeds, shoots, twigs, bark, sap, aquatic plants, mushrooms, and lichens. Even when grasses are dry and so low in protein that ruminants lose condition, baboons, like warthogs, dig up and eat the nutritious corms and rhizomes.
Invertebrates such as grasshoppers, spiders, and scorpions are important dietary supplement, especially under arid conditions; also fresh and saltwater shellfish. Vertebrate prey, taken opportunistically, includes lizards, turtles, frogs, fish, eggs and young of nesting birds, crocodile eggs, small rodents, hares, and antelopes still in the hiding stage. Only adult males take such large prey and rarely share it. In South Africa baboons can become major predators of young sheep and goats.

ACTIVITY

Unpredictable activity makes baboons unlike most African wildlife. Apart from rousing well after dawn, going to roost before dark, grooming and socializing mainly before and after daily foraging, a troop may be active at any time of day. Distance traveled and time devoted to foraging vary with location, season, and daily weather conditions. Rainfall is best predictor of daily ranging journeys are longest (average 3.7 mi {16 km}) in dry season and shortest in wet (2.8 mi {4.5 km}); 3 to 4 mi/day (5 6 km/day) is normal in acacia savanna, half as far in lush habitats, and twice as far in arid regions (6 mi {10 km} or more). Members of foraging troop spread out but maintain contact and 90% of them do the same thing at the same time.

SOCIAL/MATING SYSTEM

A baboon troop is one of the most complex, subtle societies in the animal kingdom. Social relations are influenced by gender, by standing in the dominance hierarchy, by male female and male male alliances, by emigration and immigration all mediated by a communication system nearly as elaborate as that of the great apes.
Perhaps most useful for understanding what goes on in a baboon troop is the knowledge that, internally, baboons are competing to attain and maintain dominance-females of different matrilines as well as males-and that externally, the troop has to compete with other troops for the same resources while defending itself against predators.
Baboon troops are as small as 8 and as large as 200 animals, but typically include 30 to 40 members, half of them immature. Adult females out number males 2 or 3 to 1. Troop ranges overlap widely and can be anywhere from 988 to 9880 acres (400-4000 ha), depending on the distribution and richness of resources. Different bands avoid one another unless forced to compete for scarce sleeping sites, water holes, or fruiting trees, in which case the larger troop prevails.
Family groups of females and offspring are the core of a baboon troop. Females spend their whole lives in their natal troop and home range, unless the troop outgrows its resources and subdivides. Males transfer, often repeatedly, beginning as sub adults, after remaining in their family groups and subordinate to their mothers until age 4, when they begin a growth spurt and develop their dangerous fangs. The female rank order is family based, strict, and stable daughters inherit their mother's rank. Each mother heads a matriline, wherein offspring are ranked according to age, the youngest first. Initially, the deference due offspring of a high ranking family is enforced, if necessary, by mother or older siblings, but by 2.5 years, a female's rank is fixed for life.
Long term studies have disclosed what may be pair bonds between male and female savanna baboons. Although estrous females tend to be sexually receptive to dominant males, especially macho male immigrants, those that associate with females regularly at other times enjoy privileged status. It turns out that each female has 1 to 3 favorite males she roosts with at night, social grooms with, and stays near while foraging. When she comes into estrus, one or more of these favorites usually becomes her consort.
So it pays males to cultivate social bonds with females, particularly after transferring to a new troop to improve dominance status and reproductive success. It is a win win arrangement, as associated males play godfather roles to the females' offspring, whether the real father or not. Holding, carrying, grooming, and food sharing involving adult males and infants occur almost exclusively with socially bonded males. Godfathers are quick to come to the aid of juveniles bullied by other troop members and also provide protection for their mothers. Low ranking females benefit most, as dominant females, attracted like all baboons to black infants, often handle subordinates' babies regardless of the mothers' or the infants' distress. The proximity of a big male inhibits them.
Males also exploit infant, juvenile, and female associates in disputes with rivals. A lower ranking male can safely threaten and even dominate a higher ranking one by holding out a black infant-it completely inhibits the other's attack tendencies. Alternatively, two adult males join forces to subdue one that dominates them separately.
All intratroop rivalries are suspended when the troop faces competition from a rival band or has to confront a predator far from any refuge. All the adult males join forces; their readiness to cooperate in defending the troop is the reason baboons can wander the savanna with impunity, even in the presence of lions.

REPRODUCTION

Nonseasonal, but conceptions peak during rains, when baboons are fittest. Gestation 6 months. Estrous cycles begin at 4.5 to 5 years; conception approximately a year later, birth intervale 1.5 to 2 years. Mothers typically cycle 4 to 5 times before conceiving again, starting 10 to 12 months after giving birth. With a life span of 20 to 30 years, females spend half their adult lives caring for offspring, another third pregnant, and the balance menstrual cycling. Males need 8 to 10 years to achieve parity with mature males.
Color and size of the sexual skin track the estrous cycle. During 7 day prelude to estrus (proestrus), sexual skin is black with a pink tinge and beginning to inflate. Estrus stage of c. 10 days follows, when sexual skin is fully swollen and bright pink. In 2 to 3 days after ovulating, deflation begins and within 7 days sexual skin becomes flat and black again, remaining in this stage (anestrus) for 9 days, during which menstruation occurs, usually invisibly. Then the estrous cycle begins anew. Swellings of adolescent females are small, gradually increasing to full size at 5.5 to 6 years. Callosities and adjacent bare skin (not including the sexual skin) turn from black to scarlet within several weeks of becoming pregnant. Sexual skin of lactating females remains flat and black as in anestrus.

MATING

Females in proestrus invite copulation from practically any male, presenting while showing white eyelids and often lip smacking. Subadult and large juvenile males have mating opportunities at this stage only, as adult males take over once the swelling is fully developed. Adult and especially senior males only respond to females with fully developed swellings, indicating that ovulation has occurred. Although presence of spectators during copulation evinces interest, adult males display surprisingly little sexual jealousy maybe because of the sexual preferences resulting from social bonds between particular females and males.

OFFSPRING AND PARENTAL CARE

Births usually at night, accordingly rarely witnessed. Mother supports newborn with one arm and may have difficulty keeping up with troop. Infant's bright pink skin and black hair begin changing in third month; replaced by adult coloration at 6 months although males retain pink scrotum for another year or more. Babies move well at I month, climb well enough second month to clamber over logs and adult baboons, and develop manual dexterity to pick up objects with hands instead of mouths. They begin riding jockey style at 6 to 12 weeks.
In months 3 and 4 juveniles begin playing together in the subgroups formed by females with small young. Now feed on easily accessible foods and climb fairly well but still depend on mothers for food and transport. Yearlings are nutritionally independent but depend on maternal protection and guidance for another half year.

PREDATORS

Thanks to the cooperative defense of male baboons, a troop containing infants vulnerable to predators as small as eagles or jackals can safely forage on open plains where lions, spotted hyenas, and leopards are an ever present danger. Large carnivores may be quick to pick off stragglers but very few try to penetrate a troop's defenses. When a troop is alerted to danger, adult males move toward source and demonstrate typical vigilance behavior. Sudden alarm sends the whole troop racing for cover, while males and sometimes adult females stay behind as rear guard. If necessary, they go on the offensive. Leopards are only a serious threat at night, and most baboons are smart enough to roost in places where they cannot be taken in their sleep.
Readers should note that roosting baboons also have a very effective deterrent to disturbers of their peace showering them with liquid excrement.

HOW IT COMMUNICATES

Aggression

Tooth grinding Audible when two males threaten each other at close quarters.

Fear and alarm calls

Yakking Short, sharp yak given with mouth open in fear grimace, by sub adults and adults withdrawing from threatening dominant.

Courtship

Muffled growl Mouth nearly closed, cheeks puffing in and out. Female during copulation (chacma baboon).

Infant/mother

Clicking Chirp like ikk given by infants and juveniles, equivalent to yakking. Ikk ooer Two phase call given by infants responding to maternal rebuff, expressing low level fear or moderate distress.

DIFFERENCES IN BABOON BEHAVIOR

Submission

Fear grimacing and ear flattening, meanwhile averting gaze or staring into space. Compound display of fear and threat (ear flattening), seen when a subordinate baboon passes close to a feared dominant,

Fear paralysis a baboon cornered during a chase (e.g., large juvenile male run down by adult male ), crouches or lies flat, rigid with fear, meanwhile grimacing and churring.

Displacement Activities

Twitching (head, arms, shoulders), shoulder shrugging, muzzle wiping, and exaggerated grooming behavior. Shoulder shrugging and muzzle wiping are performed by a startled baboon-e.g., the sudden appearance of a snake.

Harassment of a consort pair by rivals causes consort male to make rapid, sometimes frantic grooming movements and to hurry copulation.

Reprinted from "The Safari Companion" by Richard Estes
Spook Skelton wildlife

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