Tag baboon

What is the difference between knuckle-walkers and palm-walkers?

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What is the difference between knuckle-walkers and palm-walkers?

Primate mammals – apes and monkeys – are either knuckle-walkers or palm-walkers. 

All apes, such as the Chimpanzee, Gorilla, and Orangutan, have no tail.

All monkeys have a tail. 

Apes and monkeys use their front arms to help them walk on all fours (all four appendages). They place their two long front arms and hands on the ground, with either their knuckle on the ground or the palm of the hand on the ground. 

The knuckles are the lumps on the back of the hand at the base of the fingers.

The palms are the soft, cushioned part of the front of the hand. 

So, which ones are knuckle-walkers and which ones are palm-walkers?

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RESEARCH: A tough early life makes adult female baboons less sociable

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A recent 2021 study suggests that a tough early life makes adult female baboons less sociable. They failed to give friendly grunts before social interactions between baboons.

Researchers at the New York University in America and Kenya investigated 50 years of research on three groups of wild female Olive Baboons (Papio anubis). The baboon groups were part of the Uaso Ngiro Baboon Project. The research team also recorded more than 2,600 hours of observations of 31 females from the three groups. The researchers noted their activity, social interactions, social partners, and vocalisations.

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How does a Guinea Baboon clean its ears?

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How does a Guinea Baboon clean its ears?

The Guinea Baboon (Papio papio) is a terrestrial primate mammal in the Cercopithecidae family of monkeys. It is not an ape (apes do not have tails). The Guinea Baboon is a monkey, because monkeys have tails. 

It is native to West Africa in countries such as Guinea, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, and Mauritania.

The Guinea Baboon has small ears that are similar to human ears.

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What is the difference in the way a baboon and an orangutan sleep?

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What is the difference in the way a baboon and an orangutan sleep? 

Scientists conducted a research study to see if there was a difference in the way large primates sleep.

American scientists, Dr. Samson of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and Robert Shumaker of Indiana University in Bloomington, chose two primate species to study, and they published their findings in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology in 2015. 

The primate species they chose to study were the baboon and the orangutan. The baboon is a monkey (it has a tail) and the orangutan is an ape (it does not have a tail). 

They video-taped 12 baboons and 5 orangutans sleeping over a period of 1-4 months. The scientists studied their sleeping positions, body movements, sleep patterns, and brain activity by measuring rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (which is light sleep) and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep (which is deep sleep associated with dreaming). 

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Hierarchical Aggression in Baboons

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Baboons live in hierarchical groups, called troops, with dominant members, usually males. A troop is 5-250 individuals, with the usual group having about 50 individuals.

The Savannah Baboon, or Yellow Baboon (Papio cynocephalus), from eastern Africa, is an example of a baboon population that lives in a hierarchical social group.

Hierarchical aggression, or dominance hierarchy, in baboons is a form of communication to secure territory, to determine which members eat and drink first, or to determine breeding dominance.

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Hamadryas Baboon

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The Hamadryas Baboon (Papio hamadryas) is a medium-sized primate (mammal) in the monkey family.

The Hamadryas Baboon male has silver-white fur and the female has brown fur. Its face can be red, light-brown or dark-brown. The male has a large mane and brow over its eyes, whereas the female does not have a mane, nor a brow. Its tail ends in a small tuft (clump of hair). It has sharp canine teeth.

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