CHACMA BABOON Papio ursinus

Distribution:

They occur everywhere in Southern Africa except in the dry areas of Namibia.

Diet:

The Chacma Baboon feeds on just about every part of a tree. They eat grass seeds, rhizomes, berries, mushrooms, fruit,eggs and small animals - such as insects, earth worms, birds, lizards, and less occasionally they will kill and eat scrub hares and baby impalas.

Chacma Baboons have a wide tolerance for habitat and will be found in all types of country so long as they have sufficient food and a good supply of water, as well as a safe place to sleep.

Habits:

Their habits are largely dictated by the type of environment they find themselves in as well as the type of diet they are following.

They are capable of walking on two legs for short distances.

They have very dexterous hands and handle all sorts of food types.

They are very good at removing the sting from scorpions.

They are very gregarious, living in troops from 10 to roughly 200 individuals.

Small troops only have one dominant male whilst in the larger troops there may be more than one.

The males may move between different troops.

They will normally have home ranges and will only show defensive behaviour around their sleeping sites.

Sleeping sites usually have a strong smell of dung and urine around them.

Different troops may sometimes use another troop's sleeping site while they are in another area.

They move silently through thick bush.

They will spend hours grooming each other, picking off bits of skin, ticks and fleas, as well as licking salt from each others bodies.

Baboons have canines which are longer than those of lions or leopards.

If two males get into a fight, one male who chooses to end the fight will grab an infant from a mother preventing the other male from attacking.

Breeding:

The females give birth to one young after a gestation period of 6 months.

The females come into season between two to three years old when they are fully grown and will give birth to their first young at the age of about four.

Baboons are preyed upon by lion, hyena, leopard (but only very rarely), cheetah and python.