A juicy bug maybe, or perhaps some fruit from the tree cover could be the favourite snack of the chacma baboons in South Africa? Sadly not, as a examine which concerned attaching collar cameras to the animals discovered that the popular seasonal snack of one of many world’s largest species of monkey is, in actual fact, antelope dung!
In keeping with the examine printed within the Worldwide Journal of Primatology, by attaching collar cameras to the animals the researchers gained a “primate-eye perspective” of the baboons’ lives.
Essentially the most vital discovering beforehand unknown to scientists is that within the dry season the baboons feed on the droppings of assorted various kinds of antelope.
Ben Walton, co-author of the examine and doctoral candidate on the Division of Anthropology at Durham College, UK, stated:
“Usually, in primate behavioral analysis, individuals are inclined to habituate primates to human presence. However by being there, you would possibly bias a few of the ends in the info you gather.
“These cameras take individuals out of the equation, and you’ll observe some actually detailed elements of their lives with out the impact of human presence.”
Whereas chacma baboons are usually not but thought-about a threatened species, primate populations have seen a dramatic lower globally. This is because of habitat loss and indiscriminate searching, and chacma baboons have taken a big hit of their main habitats. Equally, as settlements encroach additional on their territories, conflicts with people have elevated.
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“They go into farmers’ fields and trigger financial losses for them, after which are trapped or shot in response,” Walton stated.
The video footage revealed that within the drier months, chacma baboons feed on antelope dung (Picture credit score: Ben Walton and the BBC Pure Historical past Unit)
It was this battle with people that the staff first got down to doc in 2017 for a BBC documentary known as Animals With Cameras.
They hooked up collar cameras to 4 baboons in South Africa’s Limpopo province, the place farmers had reported shedding crops to the animals.
Nevertheless, it was not till years later, after the documentary had aired, that Walton went again by the footage on the lookout for wider insights into the primates habits.
Discovering that the baboons have been “selective by which particular person feces have been consumed,” inspecting and throwing away items they didn’t approve of.
Shocked by the shortage of variety within the baboon’s diets, Walton stated:
“One of many causes they could be feeding on antelope droppings is as a result of there’s not numerous pure vegetation at the moment of the 12 months.It means that the dry season could be fairly laborious for them.”
Whereas the marginally unsavory discovery was an interesting first, Walton stated the principle factor he took from the venture was simply how helpful the collar cameras might be in understanding the intimate lives of animals.
He stated:
“They may additionally inform us about social habits resembling interactions between completely different baboons,” Walton stated, “and what’s gaining the primates’ consideration, as a result of we’re getting a first-person perspective.”
