Feasting on pincushion blooms (Leucospermum conocarpodendron), a young juvenile baboon, while handling the flowers gets covered in pollen. As he scrambles across the bush he’ll provide a useful service of cross pollination by brushing against the pollen and spreading it to different flowers. There he is fulfilling an ecological role as a part of a functioning ecosystem.
This is another post on the theme of baboon foraging – whether a seafood repast, or vegetarian delight, the baboons here on the Cape Peninsula are masters at sourcing a varied diet. Though at times there are opportunities to raid for ‘human derived food’, for the most part they’re out foraging in the natural environment.
I came across this scene in the late afternoon when this troop of baboons was making it’s way to an overnight sleep-site. Most had well stocked cheek pouches but a few were still adding to this stash with a last snack or two. Of interest was a mother with a baby riding jockey-style, confidently perched atop her back, munching on a clutch of succulent grass roots. Suddenly she veered off into the bush. Aha! She’s spotted something of interest, i thought and stopped to watch. Up she jumped and junior had to react quickly, but for the arched tail (Chacma baboons belong to the Old World monkey group and do not have prehensile gripping tails), he may have slid off ignominiously. What was the prize up there in the shrubbery ….. ?
It was a surprise to find that she’d discovered a rain spider’s (Palystes superciliosus) egg sac. It appeared she was after the eggs, as I examined the image in close-up view and couldn’t make out any hatchlings. The mystery was where did Mother Rain Spider lurk, as they have a reputation for aggressively guarding their egg sacs until the spiderlings hatch?! Now where were we with that menu? A couple of weeks ago I observed this same troop sucking on condom wrappers – this incident left me wondering about the dangers of spiders and whether baboons suffer from spider bites as we humans do?
Some years ago this young baboon came on a ‘recce’ round our neighbourhood. It’s not an easy life when that testosterone kicks in and the males leave the natal troop to hook up with another. Dispersing along the urban edge brings a raft of problems not least finding the way through the suburbs. To assist them they are often darted with a sedative and transferred by vehicle to another area where there are nearby troops. The transition and being accepted into another troop takes time, and it’s not always successful.
Grooming is that all important part of a baboon’s daily activity.
Sunbleached tresses, all windblown and tousled. The Cape Peninsula Chacma baboons have a touch of the ‘beachcomber’ in their looks. They’re rather unique in that they include shellfish and marine invertebrates in their diet and it’s quite a treat to observe them foraging in rock pools.
In contrast here is a shot of a male baboon from the arid regions of Namibia; it’s a wonder that baboons can survive in such extreme environments with little available water and soaring temperatures. Recently I came across an article on their behavioural adaptations and the ability to thermoregulate the body core. Temperature fluctuations occur when drinking water and sand bathing and could alter as much as 5.3*C.
The Baboon species is the most adaptable of the non-human primates inhabiting a range of habitats from coastal, savannah, forest and desert ……. and some might even say that they’re pretty adept at living on the urban edge.
