Baboon (Papio)| Top Characteristics, Habitat & Amazing Facts

Biggest Monkeys in the World

Baboons are some of the world’s largest monkeys, and males of different baboon species can grow to weigh up to 45 kg (100 lb). … Baboons have many interesting behaviors that make them fascinating animals to watch. For example, they will eat almost anything, including insects, plants, and even some types of meat; they use their large canine teeth to dig up tubers; and they mark their territory with their excrement, making them some of the only animals in the world to do so.
 

The biggest baboon in South Africa. Males can weigh as much as 45 kilograms (99 pounds) and be 1.7 meters (5.6 feet) tall, although most males weigh only 20 to 30 kilograms (44 to 66 pounds). Their body is covered with brownish-gray hair that turns yellowish in old age, while their faces are often black or bright pink. 

Many baboons have thick ruffs of hair around their necks, making them look bigger than they are. Baboons can live up to 35 years in captivity; life expectancy in the wild isn’t known. They have excellent hearing and eyesight but no tail. They generally sleep on branches at night and move about on four legs during daytime hours when feeding or traveling through their territory.
bengal tiger

Colorful Baboon

Found in most of sub-Saharan Africa, baboon come in several colors, although … Like many other monkeys and apes, baboons have broad thumbs to help them grasp branches while they climb. They use their strong teeth to eat foods like grasses, shoots, leaves, and fruit. Some even eat insects or small mammals like mice or gerbils. Most baboons live in troops of up to 100 members including males and females. The average troop is run by one dominant male who takes care of breeding duties with his harem of around 10 females.
 

Intelligent Monkeys

To better learn about other animals, you can sometimes learn more by studying animals in their environment. Let’s say that you are interested in learning more about primates. There are thousands of species on earth, so it’s not easy to know what primate might be right for you—but one thing that can help narrow down your choice is intelligence. Most mammals have brains similar to those of humans and dolphins. But monkeys, apes, and some lemurs have been considered intelligent enough to be trained (this doesn’t mean that they all possess human-like intelligence). Intelligence has several aspects (social cognition, tool use, problem-solving), but let’s focus on problem-solving.
 
Baboon

Physical Characteristics

A troop of baboons may have as many as 300 members, but most troops only have 50-150. Sometimes, baboons will band together to form clans with as many as 1,000 individuals! To survive in groups, baboon must communicate well with one another. Communication includes vocalizations (i.e., barks and grunts), facial expressions, posture displays, and gestures. Body language can mean everything to these highly social primates; it’s how they avoid conflict or mark territory. (Learn more about animal body language.)

Why Are They Endangered?

According to environmentalists, baboons are threatened with extinction for two main reasons. One of them is habitat loss. Even though baboons live in Africa, their habitats are fast disappearing as humans cut down forests and build roads and towns. Although baboons can survive in arid conditions, they need access to water every day. Poachers will also hunt them because they believe that baboons attack people or destroy farms. In some parts of Africa, people eat baboon meat. Since much of their food comes from crops farmers grow on land that used to be a dense jungle, there’s very little natural food left for them to eat when farming grows more popular in an area.

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Incredible Facts About Baboon

Baboons are some of the world’s largest monkeys, and males of different species can grow to be more than three feet tall, with an arm span that stretches to five and a half feet. Males weigh about 37 pounds on average. Female baboons are smaller than males and only weigh about 22 pounds. The animals live in social groups called troops, which can range from 15-to 200 individuals, although there may be as many as 1,000 baboons living within one troop during mating season. There are four species of wild baboons: yellow baboons, chacma baboons, olive baboons, and hamadryas baboons. Wild hamadryas aren’t found in Africa; they can only be seen in parts of southern Arabia or Iran…

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