Foraging

I mentioned that what interests me the most is what baboons eat. Baboons are omnivores, meaning they eat both plant & animal material. I’ve never seen the resident baboons eat other “animals” and they’ve had the chance. Last week I watched a scrub hare dart back and forth through the middle of the troop. Have I mentioned there are a 100+ baboons in this troop? I thought this rabbit had a death wish, but they just went right on eating grass. I’ve heard accounts of big males taking lambs & poultry, but these baboons don’t seem to have the predator instinct that other baboons may have. Here are a few of the things that I've seen them eating; acacia seeds, acorns, pine nuts, grass, both the seed heads and the rhizomes, mushrooms, small amounts of seasonal fruits, ants and scorpions. The last two items fall under the “animal” category.
Baboons are also opportunists. This is what gets them into a great deal of trouble. They’re incredibly smart and given the chance they will gladly eat human food. In the Cape Town area they make their way to BBQs (called a braai here in South Africa) often held on the Cape Point Nature Reserve (or someone's backyard) and gobble up anything lying around. They have a very soft spot for white bread, but will eat just about anything. I’ve even seen photos of them licking the bbq pits. There are “baboon monitors” that herd the baboons away from picnic & residential areas. It’s been effective, but a fruit bowl on the counter is just too much to pass up. Baboons will walk right in a house, take what they want and leave. My friend Tim describes this kind of behavior as “urban foraging”. People are complaining and demanding that something has to be done. I can't help but wonder, why did they buy/build a home in baboon habitat? Chacma baboons have lived for almost 2 million years on the Cape Peninsula. I hate to say, they were there first, but they were. I’m thankful that I’m not trying to do research in the Cape Town area. Baboons are a hot topic in the editorial section and are frequently featured on the front page. They’re shot at, poisoned and worse – in the name of white bread and fruit. Here on the reserve we’ve put up burglar bars to keep the baboons honest. I say honest, meaning true to themselves. Eating human food I suspect would have the same effect on baboons as it has had on humans – a loss of nutritional wisdom!