by Kevin R Newell

Created on: March 31, 2009   Last Updated: April 02, 2009

Baboons

Classification Kingdom - Animalia

Phylum - Chordata

Class - Mammalia

Order - Primates

Family - Cercopithecidae

Genus - Papio

Description

There are five species of Baboons and these are, Chacma, Guinea, Hamadrya, Olive and Yellow. They are found all over the continent of Africa from the North, South, East and West.

The most memorable image any one would have of a baboon is there large bright rear ends, which are usually bright red down to a pale pink colour and used mainly for sitting on when grazing and when grooming each other. Baboons are usually light brown to grayish in colour with big fluffy upper bodies and manes. They have short tails and a long nose with their eyes set like us humans at the front of their heads.

These troops can be just a few in numbers to over 200 in number. Within these troops there is one dominant male and female who leads the troop on their travels and foraging trips around their territories. There is often a lot of fighting in the troops for the control of the females and often there can be smaller groups within the troop of a male and a few females.

Amongst all the Baboons the size and weight can vary and this ranges from 60cm to over 125cm in height and 15kg up to a massive 50kg in weight for the large male species.

Habitat

Baboons live in a variety of habitats from hills, woodlands and the large savannahs. They travel around these habitats in large troops (groups) searching for food.

Breeding

Mating is very organized in a Baboon society and is usually controlled by the troops hierarchy. The dominant male will usually get all the mating rights with the females, but in some of the species any male can mate with any female. Within the troop it is the male's social ranking amongst the other Baboons which will see him mate with the most females. Their ranking can be determined by their size, dominance and age. Their ranking can be increased by spending a lot of time grooming other troop members or offering gifts of food or caring for young.

Once a female is pregnant she will give birth after 6 months and carrying the baby Baboon and can only do this once a year. Usually in the early years the mother has sole care but other females and some times males will help once the infant is older. Females and males only reach maturity around 5-7 years old before they can starting mating.

Food Habits

All Baboons are omnivores and eat a wide range of foods from smaller monkies, birds, fish and any other small mammal they are able to hunt and catch. Even with this vast array of hunting skills most Baboons are more than happy to remain vegetarian and feed off berries and grasses. They find these foods in the different land scapes they inhabit which range from hills, woodlands and the vast savannahs.

Population Status

All Baboons are very common in all of the five species and no populations are under any threat from extinction. The only threats they have are predominately from humans hunting them for meats and medicines to leopards who also hunt them.

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