Social Life

Aside from what the baboons eat and how they move, I also document the social activities of the troop such as who’s grooming who (sounds like an Aretha Franklin song!) mating, playing & fighting with whom.

Grooming is an endearing feature of primate societies. Not only does it keep their skin & hair free of ectoparasites, grooming also provides the glue or cohesiveness primate societies need to remain close. This must be a challenge for a troop who’s numbers have now topped 100. How & who individuals interact with also provide me with insight as to rank and dominance of an individual. Additionally, I think grooming must feel good, as it’s nice to have someone run his or her fingers through your hair. The ticks are bad at the moment and it seems like they are grooming more to keep their friends and family members free of them. I wish someone would give me a quick check; I’m getting tired of finding them in my hair! Just one of the joys of fieldwork. Additionally, baboons LOVE babies. It seems to me that baboons often groom new mothers in hopes that they may get to hold the baby or at least look at the baby. The mother’s willingness to allow the groomer access to her baby, once again, depends on her rank. I most often see females grooming their offspring. Some go over board and babies of rather nervous or anxious mommas can appear “over-groomed” i.e. practically bald. Mothering is hard job in any society. I also see females grooming males, females grooming other females and in a troop that’s composition is approximately 50% juveniles, I see a lot of juveniles grooming juveniles. Gotta love that. I affectionately refer to them as the “brat pack”.

Playing is probably my favorite activity to watch. Juveniles love to run, and then somersault down a hill. They pull each other’s ears, push each other in to the pond and roughhouse like human children. It’s easy to see how play provides them with the skills needed later on in life to defend themselves.

Which brings us to aggression. There seems to be a lot of aggression within baboon troops. Not only between males, between females, but also between males and females. Fights usually have to do with access to females & food. Access to females has to do with reproductive rights and perpetuating one’s genes. Baboons do try to avoid fighting. They do a lot of posturing like yawning, staring, showing the white of their eyelids and in males WAHOOing. I love wahooing, but I’ll save the discussion of vocalizations for another time.