The Chacma baboon (Papio ursinus) is a member of the Old World monkey family. It is one of the largest of all monkeys. Located primarily in southern Africa, the chacma baboon has a wide variety of social behaviors, including a dominance hierarchy, collective foraging, adoption of young by females, and friendship pairings. In general, the species is not threatened, but hunting, trapping, and accidents kill or remove many baboons from the wild, thereby reducing their numbers and disrupting their social structure.
The Chacma baboon is perhaps the longest species of monkey and it is also one of the heaviest. Adult males can in some instances be about twice as long and three times as heavy as adult females. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of this baboon is its long, downward-sloping face. The Chacma baboon is generally dark brown to gray in color, with a patch of rough hair on the nape of its neck. Unlike the males of northern baboon species (Guinea, hamadryas, and Olive baboons), Chacma males do not have a mane. The three subspecies are differentiated by size and color. The Cape chacma is a large, heavy, dark-brown, and has black feet. The Gray-footed chacma is slightly smaller than the Cape chacma, lighter in color and build, and has gray feet. The Ruacana chacma generally appears to be a smaller, less darkly colored version of the Cape chacma.
Chacma baboons are found throughout southern Africa, ranging from South Africa north to Angola, Zambia, and Mozambique. They live in diverse habitats from woodlands to savannas, steppes, and sub-deserts. Chacma baboons are found in the Kalahari Desert as well as on the alpine slopes of the Drakensberg. They usually sleep on hills, cliffs, or large trees and during the day, avoid arid areas with a lack of water.
Chacma baboons are diurnal, spending most of the day on the ground. They are highly sociable animals, living in troops, which consist of 20-80 individuals. The troops include males as well as females with their young. Members of a troop are in close ties with each other, sleeping, feeding, and grooming together. During the day the groups split into smaller subgroups, consisting of 4-5 females with their young and a dominant male, who leads the group and defends it from other males. They are always on the alert, living in troops for protection and watching for predators. When threatened, the baboons give out loud barks. Then the males run to attack while the females and young hide in a safe place among the trees. Chacma baboons communicate by vocalizations, using about 30 different sounds such as grunting, barking, or screaming. They also use gestures such as shoulder shrugs, yawns, or lip-smacking.
Chacma baboons have polygynandrous (promiscuous) mating system. The dominant male of a subgroup competes with other males for mating rights, though females of baboons mate with a number of males during their lives. They breed at any time of the year. The gestation period lasts about six months, yielding a single baby. The newborn infant clings onto its mother’s breast, grabs onto her fur and later rides on her back. The baby is weaned at the age of 8-12 months. By this time, females keep on living within the troop while males usually join another troop. Males become reproductively mature at 5 years old whereas females are mature at 3 years old.
