Baboon

Baboon
Hamadryas baboon (Papio hamadryas)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Family:	Cercopithecidae
Genus:	Papio Erxleben, 1777
Species
Papio hamadryas Papio papio Papio anubis Papio cynocephalus Papio ursinus

Baboons are monkeys of the genus Papio. They are one of the largest kinds of monkey. It is an intelligent Old World monkey. It lives on the ground in groups called troops. Troops can be as small as a few baboons or as big as several hundred members.

Distribution

unidentified monkey

Baboons live in forests and on savannahs in Africa and on the Arabian Peninsula. As they move into the open land, the family groups come together into groups several hundred strong, led by adult males that work together to protect the others from predators.

Diet

Baboons are omnivores (they eat both plants and meat). They eat grasses, roots, insects and other small animals, like lizards, small mammals, fish, birds, and snakes. In some places, they steal food from humans.

Predators

Leopards, cheetahs, African wild dogs, lions, hyenas and people hunt the baboon. To scare the predator away, baboons can show their eyelids, show their teeth, chase the predator, and make noise.

To understand their lives, one must see them in their natural environment.