PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Male Ht.3ft. Wt. 90lbs Female Ht. 1.5ft. WT.45lbs.Coat: coarse and long, Skin: unsure, Brain Size: similar to a dog's size, Locomotion: Quadrupeds, Longevity: 40years
GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION: Africa and southernmost Arabia in the savannas, forest, and rocky plateaus, arid zones, wherever water and secure sleeping places (trees or cliffs) occur.
ECOLOGY: The Savanna baboons are mostly terrestrial mostly because of their size. Because they are so large, most of them are not able to make their way up into trees. Their homes range from parts of Africa and into the grasslands of the Ethiopian Highlands. During any given day, the baboons will travel in great populations. There are many separate groups that make up a population. One thing remains the same though, within a population there consists usually a female, a baby, and a male follower.
DIET: Savanna baboons eat the following: plants, grasses, tubers, bulbs,roots, leaves, buds, flowers, fruits, seeds, shoots, twigs, bark, sap, aquatic plants, mushrooms, lichens. When food supply is low they eat: warthogs, and dig up and eat nutritious corms and rhizomes. Dietary Supplements: grass hoppers, spiders, scorpions, also fresh and salt water shellfish. Vertebrate Prey: lizards, turtles, frogs, fish, eggs, small rodents, hares, and antelopes still in hiding stage. Adult Males eat: large prey and rarely share such as young sheep and goats.
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION: Group size is an average of 40 members but the extremes are 8 to 200. The groups have both male and female members. When the male wants to mate with the female it will groom her. Male transfer happens often and repeatedly, beginning with subadult, the male is subordinate to their mothers until age of 4yrs, then the transfer will occur. There are female dominance hierarchies. Male Savanna Baboons show aggression when another male is to close so they grind their teeth so that it is audible. Sharp screams is another form of aggression.
INTELLIGENCE: Possess sharp yak which represents a fear toward a threatening dominant. Muffled growl: cheeks puff in and out, this is for courtship to a female. Clicking Chirplike ikk: infants and juveniles, equivalent to yakking this expresses a low level of fear and or moderate distress. Grooming and ear flattening: fear to a dominant. Fear Paralysis: smaller male lays down and churns in fear when cornered by a dominant. Displacement Activities: Twitching and shoulder shrugging nervousness for example, see a snake. Frantic grooming: Harassment of a couple by rivals. Raising eyebrows as a warning sign, so they don't make a sound.
REPRODUCTION: Birth seasonality is when it rains. Males age of sexual maturity is 7 to 10 year and females is 5 years. Gestation length is 5 to 6 months. Estrus swellings last for 10 out of the 32 days. Litter sizes are around 1 to 2 newborns. Interbirth inverval is 1 1/2 to 2 year. Infant birth weight: 3 lbs.. Unsure of the % infant mortality in first years.
PARENTAL CARE: The young baboons will begin to ride on their mothers back at age 6 to 12 weeks. They will continue to be carried by their mothers until they reach 18 months. They are able to walk at this time, but look to their mother for support. They begin walking when they reach their 2nd month. Although baboons are totally independent by the time they reach the age of one, they will depend on maternal protection and guidance for another half year.