Hamadryas Baboon

Range:
Ethiopia and Somalia in Africa, and Saudi Arabia and Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula. They are found from sea level to 2600 meters.

Habitat:
Inhabits semi-arid plains and rocky hill country and they spend the night on rocky cliffs.

Size:
Length (without tail): 24 -30in; Weight: males- up to 40 lbs & females are half the weight of males

Young:
one young is usual, rarely two

Gestation:
170-173 days

Diet (wild):
Opportunistic: chiefly vegetarian supplemented with protein-rich insects, hares and other small animals. In parts of Arabia, they are becoming increasingly dependent on raiding crops and garbage dumps.

Diet (zoo):
monkey chow, leaf-eater biscuits, fruits, and vegetables

Life span (wild):
unknown, but it is likely that the maximum is slightly lower in the wild

Life span (captivity):
35+ years

Status:
They are common within their limited distribution. Arabian populations that become dependent on humans may be at risk. The Hamadryas has been exterminated in Egypt and reduced in numbers in other areas. Much of its former range has been brought under cultivation, leading to conflicts with people. It is listed as threatened by CITES (II) and near threatened by the IUCN.

Threats:
habitat loss, harvesting for food and for research, as well as outright persecution.

Anatomy/Physiology:
They have enormous canines, usually used in threat displays. Females and young are brown without mane. Infants are black. The tail is arched gently backwards. The face is reddish-pink with a very long muzzle in the same line as the brain case. The Ischial callosities are highly developed and bright red. Females have pronounced monthly genital swelling.

Social/Family units:
Hamadryas baboons are socially and structurally distinct from other species of baboon. Males are related to each other and females move between groups. They sleep on rocky cliffs in aggregations that may number as many as 750. They travel and forage in bands of 50 to 100 individuals. In turn these bands are composed of the basic group of a single adult male with one to four females together with their offspring. The adult male keeps his harem together by strong disciplinary measures which include biting his females on the nape of the neck. Males kidnap young females who then bond to them. A female threatened by her male will run towards not away from him. When a pair forms, rival males respect a possessor's right to his female. This species breeds throughout the year, but the peak seasons are May-June and November-December.  Females reach sexual maturity in five years, males in seven.  Their flexible social structure is adapted to two special local conditions: the lack of safe sleeping places and the difficulty of finding food in the tree-less semi-desert in which they live.

Habits:
These animals are very social and are stressed by isolation. A direct stare is a threat. To threaten in return, they will raise their eyebrows, showing their white eyelid and partially open their mouth, displaying formidable canines.
Intensifying the threat, they may yawn, raise their hair, slap hands and feet on the ground, grind their teeth and scream. Fear is shown by a “grin” with no eyelid threat. They have a number of calls; alarm is given by a dog-like bark.  Social grooming is thought to help develop and maintain social bonds between animals. Within hamadryas baboons, most social grooming is performed by females and is directed toward the leader. Other forms of tactile communication in this species include reassuring touches and embraces, as well as a variety of bites and slaps.
In their dry, sandy environment they learn where to find small pools and where to dig for water. 

Communication:
utilize visual signals and gestures, vocalizations, and tactile communication. Visual signals include social presenting, in which a females or juveniles display their hind quarters to the male. This submissive signal differs from sexual presenting (which females do to elicit copulation) in that the hindquarters are much lower to the ground. Staring is a threat behavior, the effect of which is enhanced by the differently colored fur in the region of the eye which is revealed when the baboon stares. The mouth may be opened during this type of staring, although the canine teeth typically remain covered. Bobbing the head up and down is also considered a threatening behavior among hamadryas baboons. Canine teeth are displayed by a tension yawn, as another threatening gesture. This last behavior is performed only by males toward their rivals or toward predators.  Teeth chattering and lipsmacking, although not technically vocalizations, are auditory cues of reassurance, often performed by a dominant animal when another is presenting to him. Vocalizations made by these animals include a two-phase bark, or "wahoo" call, which adult males direct toward feline predators or toward other males. It is thought to communicate the presence of the male and his arousal. All hamadryas baboons, except infants, make rhythmic grunting vocalizations when approaching another animal to signal affiliative intentions. A shrill bark is produced by all except adult males to indicate alarm, especially due to sudden disturbances.

Predators:
leopard, Verreaux’s eagle, but most natural predators have been virtually eliminated from most of the range of P. hamadryas.

Locomotion:
quadrupedal, mainly terrestrial primates

Activity:
diurnal

Any interesting story/fact:
The Hamadryas was the sacred baboon of the ancient Egyptians, often pictured on temples and monoliths as the attendant or representative of Thoth, the god of letters and scribe of the gods. Baboons were mummified, entombed and associated with sun-worship. This is the only non-human primate found in Arabia. Also known as the sacred or “mantled” or Arabian baboon.