Baboons

Baboons are largely ground-dwelling animals who have a varied diet that includes fruit, roots, and grubs and other insects. Most wild baboons live in hierarchical “troops” of five to 200 or more animals which are based on a core of females and juveniles, and may include several transient males. Male baboons leave their birth group, usually around puberty, whereas females stay in the same group their whole lives. Their lifespan is typically 20-30 years, but they can live up to 40 years.

Male baboons are powerful fighters, showing little fear of larger animals, and have been known to attack leopards. Visual communication is important to deter both attacks from predators and fighting among male baboons. They have many signals to communicate threat and dominance, including intense staring, flashing of the eyelids, ground slapping, chewing, tooth grinding, yawning and baring their canine teeth, eyebrow raising, ear flattening, and shaking of rocks and branches. They also make more than 30 unique vocalizations, including barks and screams.

Females typically give birth every other year, usually to a single infant after a six-month gestation. While the mother tends to be the primary caregiver, several females will share caring duties.

Baboons are notable not only for their distinct looks, but also for their unique personalities. Two of the most endearing characters at the 186-acre Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary (link) are Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley: young male baboons who seem to have a never-ending supply of energy. The Sanctuary, located near San Antonio, Texas, is home to more than 500 primates (baboons, macaques, and vervets). While the majority of the inhabitants are macaques, a couple dozen baboons also call our sanctuary home. In 2013, nine female baboons, to whom we refer as the Lucky Nine, were retired to the sanctuary from a research facility. They spent their entire lives in research, some for as long as 23 years, where they never had access to the world outside, much less grass under their feet. Today, they enjoy the relative freedom that our sanctuary offers.

The conventional thinking is that there are five subspecies of baboons (though there is controversy about the taxonomic classification of baboons, particularly because interbreeding is common): anubis (or olive), yellow, chacma, hamadryas, and guinea. Of these, the Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary is home to olive, hamadryas, and hybrid baboons (offspring of two different subspecies).