Baboons in the Savannah - Life in the Troop
Baboons in the Savannah - Life in the Troop
Living Library
Wildwatch.com
A varied diet
As with most other primates - man included - baboons are omnivorous, eating both vegetable and animal matter. The troop forages in a loose pack, digging up succulent rhizomes, turning over rocks in search of grubs or scorpions, gorging themselves on ripe fruit, or wading into swamps for waterlily tubers. Elephant dung is thoroughly searched for beetles and their larvae.
The males are equipped with enormous canine teeth and though these are used primarily in ritualised displays of dominance, they are occasionally turned to more practical use. Antelope fawns and hares are preyed upon whenever the opportunity presents itself, and there is some evidence that certain males can become practised killers.
Being such intelligent animals, baboons take readily to stealing food from human beings, and can become quite a nuisance at camps and picnic sites. In most cases, it is eventually necessary to enlist one or more 'baboon chaser' whose job it is to keep the eventually demanding and sometimes, aggressive primates at bay.
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