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Baboon and Impala Together
Baboon and Impala Together
"In open country," wrote Washburn and DeVore, baboon's "closest relations
are with impalas." This Web site is a place for examining the nature
of that relationship.
Since the June 1961 Scientific American article by Sherwood
Washburn and Irven DeVore quoted above, much field work has been done and
much has been published. While the social structure and behavior
of both baboon and impala are now better understood, work has been focused
on one species or the other. Interaction between them has not, to
the best of my knowledge, been studied.
It would take considerable resources to define scientifically the nature
of the relations between the two species. However, with a fairly
modest effort, a start can be made. This Web page aspires to be that
start: a collection of anecdotal reports that can be used by anyone interested
in the voluntary association of impala
and baboon.
Discussion
Day
Galli
Rasmussen
Busse
Comley
Flemix
Web Resources
People
Places
Citations
Questions
"Baboon" at this Web site refers to savannah baboons.
Sighting #1
One Morning in Tanzania
Tarangire
National Park, Tanzania. Observed by Tom Day, Marvin Cooper,
Nancy Steele, and Nigel Perks. 8/13/1989
Driving along in the morning we come to an overlook. Down in the valley
floor is a large open area covered with baboon and impala. Most of the
baboon are sitting. The impala are frisky, running all over the place,
in and around the baboon. At a superficial level, the impala and baboon
seem to be ignoring each other.
Two impala males are play fighting, head to head. The clank of their
horns is clearly audible to us in the still morning air. We are perhaps
75 yards away, atop a cliff.
Baboon pairs are grooming. A black infant goes to a large who
picks it up and inspects its bottom. Youngsters wrestle and play. One female
baboon presents to another. Impala run in and around them all the while.
Eventually there is a movement to the right, up the slope to the level
we are at . Both impala and baboon participate. Our driver backs up our
car, a Land Rover with roof hatches open, to a place where we'll be able
to see them if they continue in a straight line.
Many baboon climb a large umbrella acacia and start feeding in it. For
a while it looks like they are going to stop there. A few baboon stay on
the ground and go slightly further, to the edge of the road but not into
the road.
Then two male impala come forward and go down the road away from us.
The baboon go into the road and follow. There's not much speed to this
movement.
The leading impala are joined by two more males. The four of them get
to the top of the rise, the furthest visible point on this packed dirt
road from where we are. There they pause. They spend a long time looking
ahead. Meanwhile one other male impala is part way down the road, off to
the right, standing looking out to the right.
The column of baboon stops. Youngsters start playing. Further back down
the line two baboons mate.
There is a start. All the baboon move off the road to the left. Impala
move the same way. Nobody moves very far. Shortly they are back in place.
We humans do not see what startled them.
Impala females well back in this slow moving procession are grazing.
The four lead impala move forward and pass out of sight. The baboon
form up into an approximation of single file and follow.
We drive away down the road in the other direction.
======+++++++++++======
The impala would have been Tanzanian impala (Aepyceros melampus suara).
The baboon were probably Yellow Baboon (Papio cynocephalus). (The
preceding is a slightly edited version of Tom Day's 8/14 journal entry.)
Discussion
Dr. D.R. Rasmussen wrote on 12 Sept. 2002
When we began research on baboons at Mikumi
National Park,
we wanted to habituate baboons to our presence but not habituate
them so much that they would later become a nuisance and a danger
to human observers as they are at, for example, Nairobi National Park.
We therefore decided to mimic the interactions between baboons and
other
species, such as impala, with which they are in frequent contact but
who
are not predators. We noticed that while the impala, zebra and other
species
are in a mixed group with baboons they do allow their approach but
they
do not allow them to approach them too closely or to touch them. Generally
when a baboon approaches closer than 2-5 m, another species will make
a
threatening gesture, such as stamping a hoof or tossing its horns.
This
behavior, repeated time and time again, is apparently sufficient to
train
entire baboon groups to keep a respectful distance. We therefore behaved
in a similar way. We'd stamp our feet, or snap our clip boards and
as a
result we could move within a group of 130 baboons and move with the
group day after day for years, but the baboons would not touch us or
approach closer than our zone of personal defense.
Curt Busse wrote on 23 Sept. 2002
Baboons and impala are common throughout the Okavango
Delta, Botswana. My
impression is that these species associate with each other more than
expected
by chance, and - based on their reactions to me - that impala are less
vigilant against predators when in the presence of baboons.
I observed two troops of chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) in the Okavango
from
June 1977 to June 1980. Prior to this study the baboons had not
been
habituated to human observers, and even during the study they gave
alarm
barks to local human inhabitants in canoes or on foot, even at distances
of
more than 100 meters. All of my observations were made on foot.
Large predators, including lions, leopards, crocodiles, and spotted
hyenas,
were common, and wild dogs, cheetah, and human poachers were seen on
occasion. I witnessed lions and leopards attacking baboons, and
I twice found
the remains of impala cached in trees, possibly by leopards.
I should also
mention that during the study baboons killed and ate four newborn impala.
It was not uncommon to encounter full-grown impala foraging within the
perimeter of a baboon troop. The impala sometimes strayed toward
me,
especially if I remained still or partially hidden. One morning,
while I sat
on the ground in a small woodland watching baboons, an impala
approached to within one meter of me. Nose twitching, it stared
at me for
perhaps 30 seconds before backing away several steps, snorting, and
trotting
away. Most of the baboons stopped what they were doing, watched
the impala
scamper off, then returned to their grooming or feeding activities.
Although I maintained no systematic records on impala sightings, I would
estimate that I was within 20 m of impala on at least a dozen occasions
when
in the presence of baboons. By contrast, I cannot recall ever
getting closer
than 50 m to impala when not in the presence of baboons. The
impala acted
like they did not expect to encounter humans near the baboons, and
their
behavior might well reflect a greater feeling of safety around baboons.
ps: Baboons also associated with warthogs, although to a lesser extent.
More
than once I found myself uncomfortably close to a warthog.
Peter Comley of the Chobe
Travel Shop wrote on 26 Sept. 2002
Baboons and impala are seen together frequently and it is my
observation
that impala derive a great deal of security from the alertness of the
baboons. There is, however, a price to pay for the impala.
On one occasion along the Chobe river in Botswana my group and I were
watching baboons and impala feeding quietly together. The baboons were
foraging for seeds on the ground and the impala were nibbling on new
shoots
on the bushes. The impala had dropped their young after the first rains
and
there were large numbers of very young calves around. It was a very
peaceful
scene when suddenly one of the large male baboons grabbed and killed
a
young impala. The baboons literally ripped the impala calf limb from
limb in
the midst of the other impala who did not flinch. They carried on with
their
feeding as if the baboons were still eating seeds.
Relevant picture
by photographer Jo Daniell
Norman Galli
of
Kwando
Safaris, Botswana and Zambia, wrote on 29 Sept. 2002
My experience with wildlife, having worked in this field since
1983, is that relationships between species are a lot less complicated
than we think. What might at first seem to be puzzling and unexplained
is actually quite simple. In fact, it has been my experience that
the answers are so simple that we totally overlook them.
Having personally observed baboon and impala, I've concluded that there
are two benefits for impala: the baboons have a structured early
warning system to detect predators, and they are generally messy feeders
and drop a lot of food onto the ground from trees which the impalas feed
on. In Zululand, South Africa, I have seen other antelope species with
baboon and impala, such as nyala, bushbuck and kudu, especially under fig
trees and the sausage trees when they flower.
Benefits to the baboon probably revolve around the principle of safety
in numbers, with the eyes, ears, and noses of the impala adding to the
troop's alertness. Baboon have a natural affinity for other species.
Lastly, I think that if you asked most guides what are the most common
species that you see regularly, you'll find both impala and baboon high
up on the list. It is hardly surprising then that they spend so much time
together in those habitats that they share.
Gareth Flemix, Kwando Safaris camp manager at Lebala
Camp in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, wrote on 9 Oct. 2002:
During my time here at Lebala, I have noticed a definite symbiotic
relationship between
baboon and impala.
I have also noticed baboons interacting with other antelope species.
On two occasions I
have seen a troop of baboons not far from the Camp feeding with a herd
of Roan
antelope.
Both of these occasions were at midday (11:00 – 12.10). It was
in an area of tall thatch
grass, Acacia tortilis, Acacia luderitzii, and sausage
trees (Kigelia africana). While
the Roan were resting, I observed them rubbing and thrashing small
trees, I presume for
territorial status. As soon as the Roan moved away, the Baboons rushed
over to feed on
these trees and bushes. After feeding they rested, staying in
the area. Then the Roan
returned, perhaps having gone to drink, and stayed in the shade among
the Baboons.
I observed some of the baboons getting very close to some of the
Roan. It
seemed to me that both species were comfortable in each others presence,
quite
unusual for Roan, which are shy by nature to other species.
Web Resources and other Miscellany
Baboon Websites
Amboseli Baboon Research
Project A complete resource, literate and thorough
Okavango
Baboon Project
Baboon Gallery
Neat pictures
Animal Behaviour Research Unit, Mikumi National Park,
TanzaniaGood pictures and more.
Olive
Baboons in Kenya
A
Baboon's Life, an essay on aging and friendships
Baboon
Key to Human Stress
Savanna Baboon
from The Safari Companion by Richard Estes
Article on Baboon
Communication and "Theory of Mind", American Psychological Association (APA)
Baboon Photos
South
Africa Wildlife, a travel guide for tourists
Impala Websites
Basic
facts provided by ultimate ungulate
Taxon
Advisory Group of The American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA)
University
of Michigan, Museum of Zoology's Animal Diversity Web Site
Black-faced
impala
Research Scientists
Irven
DeVore
Peter Jarman
Curt Busse
Clifford Jolly
Jane Phillips-Conroy
Dennis R. Rasmussen
Shirley Strum
Sherry Washburn
Barbara
s
Jeanne
Altmann
Stuart
A. Altmann
Guy
Norton
Locations
Mikumi National Park,
Tanzania
Tarangire
National Park, Tanzania
Okavango Delta,
Botswana
References
[1]
1979 Rasmussen, D. R. Correlates of patterns of range use of a troop of
yellow baboons (Papio cynocephalus). I.Sleeping
sites, impregnable females, births, and male emigrations and immigrations.Animal
Behaviour, 27, 1098-1112.
This page is maintained by Tom Day, Mountain View, California, <tom-day
AT comcast DOT net>
This page is intended for rendering by any browser. It is not
"optimized" for Netscape, Opera, or any other browser.
Questions
Food for thought.
Subspecies. Is one baboon subspecies more likely to associate with impala
than another?
Duration. How long do the species stay together?
Do individuals of one species identify and relate to individuals of
the other?
Initiative. Do both species initiate association?
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