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YELLOW BABOON.
Term Paper ID:24557
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Essay Subject:
Description, behavior, habitat, diet, social structure, mating aggression, predation.... More...
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7 Pages / 1575 Words
5 sources, 12 Citations,
MLA Format
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Paper Abstract:
Description, behavior, habitat, diet, social structure, mating aggression, predation.
Paper Introduction:
Naturalists seek to observe animals in their natural habitat and so to learn the adaptive capabilities of different creatures. Primatologists observe the behavior of primates to see both how these animals adapt and to derive some idea of how the human being adapts as well. The Yellow Baboon--papio cynocephalus cynocephalus--has been observed by several different researchers and naturalists in recent years, and different idea about their behavior have bene offered in the literature as a result.
The Yellow Baboon is also known as the Savanna Baboon, or rather it is a subspecies of the Savanna Baboon, along with the olive Baboon, the Guinea Baboon, and the Chacma Baboon. The Yellow Baboon is a large monkey with a head like a dog, which is where the name cynocephalus is derived from "cyno" for dog and "cephalus" for head. The male weighs between 59 and 97 pounds,
Text of the Paper:
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"Effects of Age and Sex on Intra-Group Spacing Beahviour in Juvenile Savannah Baboons, Papio cynocephalus cynocephalus." Animal Behaviour (1988), 184-2 4.Wasser, Lauren M. Among the elements leading to a faster rate of development were theindividual being born late in its cohort, an infant born in a morephysically immature state, an infant living in a large troop, or a femaleinfant of a low ranking mother. Jeanne and Stuart Altmann have studied the baboons in their nativehabitat and have discovered a number of interesting facts about the sociallife of these creatures, much of which contradicts what was believedearlier about the social structure of groups of these creatures. In species including the yellow baboon, juvenilesmust select partners for the development of particular relationships frommany diverse individuals (Pereira 185). They are difficult to study, and as a resultthere are fewer than a dozen long-term studies for any primate in theworld, let alone the baboon. Juvenile animals begin a lifetime ofindependent association and interaction with surrounding members of theirgroup or population. Adult females outnumber the males by two or three to one. the correlation was strong, and the diet of weanlings was foundto be a good predictor of what happens to them for the rest of their livesin terms of biological fitness. There is also a correlation of developmental rateswith maternal dominance (Wasser and Wasser 26). Wasser. The species has extended its range recently because of the destruction ofthe primary forest, agricultural expansion, and local extinction ofpredators. The savanna baboon has replaced other baboons inmany regions. Adults would help protect juvenilesfrom attacks by other adults or other juveniles, for instance. Different troops avoid one another unless forced to compete forsleeping areas or food or water, and when this occurs, the larger troopprevails. This makes the female hierarchy and kinship bonds the stablecore of the social structure of each group (Campbell www2.uchicag.edu). Baboons live an average of 15 years, ifthey survive their infancy. Baboons have been known to becomemajor predators of young sheep goats (Estes wildlife@exis.net). When a troop is alerted to danger, theadult males move toward the source and demonstrate typical vigilancebehavior. their diet includes a wide varietyof plants and grasses, which are the mainstay in typical savanna habitats.they eat tubers, bulbs, roots, leaves, buds flowers, fruits, seeds, shoots,twigs, bark, sap, aquatic plants, mushrooms, and lichens. Different behaviors have been studied by different researchers inshort-term studies of baboons, often with an eye to determining generalbehavioral rules for primates that may be transferable to studies of humanbeings. Among the behaviors observed by the Altmanns were many individualvariations. The coat is coarseand short in the yellow baboon. they may alsotake vertebrate prey as they can find it, including lizards, turtles,frogs, fish, eggs and the young of nesting birds, crocodile eggs, smallrodents, hares, and even antelope (though only the adult males take suchlarge prey,m and they rarely share it). The females also have a dominance hierarchy,and daughters inherit their mother's rank in a fairly strict fashion. Primatologistsobserve the behavior of primates to see both how these animals adapt and toderive some idea of how the human being adapts as well. Being a member of a large troop can bedisadvantageous because of increased social tension and competition. Socialization is one of the topics much examined in these studies,and Pereira reports on one such study considering the effects of age andsex on intra-group spacing, by which is meant the likelihood of anindividual encountering some group members and not encountering others.Juvenile primates are considered the most important group for studyingdeveloping spatial relations. The yellow baboon is found primarily in Kenya (Esteswildlife@exis.net). Jeanne Altmann discovered how the parenting skills of mothers,which were previously seen as innate behaviors, were found to vary widelywith dominance rank. The array of what isripe and flowering changes frequently in the fertile region of Amboseli,but the baboons feed only on the most nutritious part of the mostnutritious plants available at any given time. birthorder is seen as an important socially mediated variable, and those bornearly in their cohort have an advantage over others throughout infancy andthe juvenile period. "Savanna Baboon Papio cynocephalus." www.nature- wildlife.com./wildlife@exis.net.Pereira, Michael E. Predation was observed in the wild and demonstrated why there was ahigh incidence of the disappearance of adult females from the troop. Sixmajor behaviors were examined, and it was found that faster rates ofdevelopment were achieved with certain environmental and social conditions. It pays for males tocultivate social bonds with females because the females constitute thehierarchy of the troop (Estes wildlife@exis.net). The social structure is reflected in the behavior of juveniles in thetroop. juveniles were found to exploit sources of support by associationwith the appropriate group members. Most troops are able to drink regularly, and they areknown to dig wells in dry streambeds. The animal is able to satisfy its need for water largelyfrom food and dew. He concluded that diet, biologicalsuccess, and physical constitution were intertwined so closely that theycould not be separated (Campbell www2.uchicag.edu). At times whengrasses are dry and so low in protein that ruminants lose condition,baboons are like warthogs in that they can dig up and eat the nutritiouscorms and rhizomes they can find. for onething, earlier research tended to focus on the males and to ignore theroles of the females. Long term studies show that there may be pair bonds between male andfemale savanna baboons. and Samuel K. Females spend their entire lives in their home troop and homerange, while males transfer again and again. Smith. "In Their Decades Watching the Baboons of Kenya, Jeanne and Stuart Altmann Have Discovered a Rich Social World Where Behavior and Biology Meet." The University of Chicago Magazine (August 1995), www2.uchicag.edu/alumni.mag/95 8/August95Baboons.html.Condit, Vicki K. Wasser and Wasser studied the environmental variation anddevelopmental rate among free ranging yellow baboons in Tanzania. However,the adult males were found to be reluctant to attack adult females onbehalf of juveniles: Instead, during rare protracted episodes of adult female aggression towards young juveniles, adult males sometimes redirected their aggressive "support" towards nearby juveniles, adolescents and human observers (Pereira 2 ). Thishad long-term demographic effects on the troop and may explain why thereare more females than males to assure continuation of the troop. Troopranges overlap, and the size of that range can be anywhere from 988 to 988 acres. Early work on wild primates classified the creaturesin terms of age-sex classes like adult males, juvenile males, adultfemales, or juvenile females. The yellow baboon shows behaviors telling us much about the behaviorand development of primates in general, and more studies are needed ofbaboons in the wild to answer a number of questions and refine theknowledge we already have. The Yellow Baboon is a large monkeywith a head like a dog, which is where the name cynocephalus is derivedfrom "cyno" for dog and "cephalus" for head. It is now known that a baboon troop is one of the most complexsocieties in the animal kingdom. altmann also trackedbaboons into adulthood and found that there was a link between the qualityof the diet of a weanling and the lifetime biological fitness of thatanimal, as measured by such factors as life span and the number ofoffspring. The male weighs between 59and 97 pounds, and the female between 31 and 37 pounds. Themales migrate from one group of animals to another and fight their way upthe social hierarchy,but the females remain with their mother's group alltheir lives. By studying these creatures, the Altmanns have shownthat the baboons, which are among the most adaptable of non-human primatesand which can be found living in environments ranging from semi-desert toforest, have a social structure which centers on females and kinship andnot on males and fighting. The baboon also supplements its dietwith invertebrates such as grasshoppers, spiders, and scorpions, and theyare more likely to seek such a diet under arid conditions. The yellow baboon is the most widespreadof the African primates and is found throughout the savanna and arid zoneswherever they can find water and secure sleeping places in trees or cliffs. Baboons live in troops as small as 8 and as largeas 2 , though the typical groups is 3 to 4 members, half of theseimmature. The Yellow Baboon is also known as the Savanna Baboon, or rather itis a subspecies of the Savanna Baboon, along with the olive Baboon, theGuinea Baboon, and the Chacma Baboon. "Predation on a Yellow Baboon (Papio cynocephalus cynocephalus) by a Lioness in the Tana River National Primate Reserve, Kenya." American Journal of Primatology (1994), 57- 64.Estes, Richard. This is true even thoughAltmann could find no evidence of social teaching. this makes the Altmann study all the moreimportant. The authors of this study notethat the importance of predation on primate sociality remains a source ofdebate and that it has also rarely been observed (Condit and Smith 57).Infants are vulnerable to predators as small as eagles or jackals, but acooperative defense is achieved by male baboons in the troop to preventsuch predation from occurring. the baboon is labeled an omnivore, but Altmann foundthat baboons show great selectivity in what they eat. and E.O. The yellow baboon tends to monopolize the ecological niche for amonkey able to forage in trees and on the ground, and the animal alsoranges far from refuges. Low-status mothers are more protective of theiroffspring and are also more likely to give birth to sons, a mysteriousadaptation that makes sense because a daughter would be saddled with thelow rank of the mother (Campbell www2.uchicag.edu). The group studied by the Altmanns consistof some 3 yellow baboons living in more than six groups in Amboseli, nearMount Kilimanjaro. "Environmental Variation and Development Rate among Free Ranging Yellow Baboons (Papio cynocephalus)." American Journal of Primatology (1995), 15-29.----------------------- 9 A sudden alarm will send the troop to cover, while the adultmales remain behind as rear guard. Naturalists seek to observe animals in their natural habitat and soto learn the adaptive capabilities of different creatures. The Yellow Baboon--papio cynocephalus cynocephalus--has been observed by several differentresearchers and naturalists in recent years, and different idea about theirbehavior have bene offered in the literature as a result. Works CitedCampbell, Andrew. The researchers decided that these resultsshowed that these infants showed developmental processes that compensatedfor environmental or physical conditions that negatively influencedsurvivorship: "One interpretation of these data is that accelerateddevelopment occurred in response to disadvantageous developmentalconditions" (Wasser and Wasser 26). The Altmann study shows how important alongitudinal project can be and the important information it can provide.Stuart Altmann undertook a study beginning in 1974 of the dietary habits ofthe yellow baboon. Sometimes the adult females do as well,and both males and females will, if necessary, go on the offensive.Leopards are sa serious threat at night, so most baboons are smart enoughto find sleeping places that protect them (Estes wildlife@exis.net). Aside from the inherent problem in studying primates wherethey live, there are also political instabilities in Africa that preventmore long-term examinations. Lionswere one of the major predators on the troop, and lion predation is foundto occur when there is little rainfall.
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