Zingela Safaris

Savanna woodland and mountains. Baboons are very seldom seen in open grasslands. As long as food, water and suitable sleeping places are available, they can live almost anywhere.

Baboons live in troops of up to 40 or 50 individuals, congregating at nigh in a chosen tree or cliff, where they sleep, and from which they descend in the morning to look for food. They never travel too far from their sleeping spots, not more than 2 or 3 kilometres, but they normally have more than one of these sleeping-sites, within their territory, that they use on a rotation basis. Spending most of the daylight hours on the ground, Baboons are very exposed to predators, Leopard in particular. They have a very good hearing and eyesight. Baboons are always on the alert, very often associating with other animals, like Impala. If a predator approaches, the males give the alarm bark, and all the troop will go up the tree or trees; if no trees available, the vulnerable members of the troop will congregate in the centre of the group, with the males on the outside. Adult males can weigh up to 43kg and females up to 17kg. Their life span anything from 20 to 30 years.

Baboons are omnivorous, feeding on fruit, roots, leaves, grass, flowers, insects, lizards, birds and their eggs. They might even kill the newborn of some antelope and even Leopard cubs. They can stay without water for up to 11 day by eating succulant vegetation and fruit.

Females give birth to a single young after a gestation period of about 6 months, not mating again for the following 18 months.