BABOONS

After my experiences with Tingsan the Orangutan in Borneo I was interested to find about more about what Baboons and Vervet monkeys live on in the wild, this is something that has not be widely reasearched  in this area and is also more difficult than watching orangutans eat as Baboons forage as well as eat out of trees, there are also not as many fruit trees visible although they do like the cultivated fruit trees that farmers grow although this is obviously not natural and is sometimes what gets them in trouble with the local farmers. They eat a lot of flowers and seeds choosing these over leaves, something they enjoy is a spiders nest that is often found on the ground.

 

I spent a lot of time walking in the forest looking for trees that I had seen them in whilst observing the wild troops and found many interesting plants, I also watched Karins Vervet monkeys while they played outside and was able to see their favourite foods, there is  wild fern that when pulled up has small bulbs on it, there is also a bean shaped plant that grows above the ground the vervets really enjoyed these favouring them over fresh fruit but I think this is more likely Baboon food as they have to be pulled from the ground and the Vervet monkey would not always have the strength.

 

Watching Baboons forage is interesting as they spend a lot of time pulling up clumps of grass turning over stones and foraging on the ground whereas the Vervet Monkeys spends more time in the trees.I observed Baboons pulling off the leaves of one very beautiful flower  I could only assume not necessarily to eat but to find the insects perhaps ants inside.

 

 

 THE BLOUKRANS TROOP 

 

This  troop is regulary seen at the Bloukrans Pass near Plettenberg Bay most times observed in the road, this is quite a common sight around this area and surprisingly enough not many Baboons get run over  as they are very smart.

 

The troop consists of about 40 and we observed the Alpha male and the sub adult (just coming into adulthood) this troop had a very old female called Sarah she is about 30ys old, Karin has seen her for many years within this troop. We were fortunate to be allowed within their space and I am convinced it was because I was with Karin she has a wonderful affinity with these animals and we were only about 6ft away from them, we observed the babies playing and a lot of grooming.

 

The object of following this troop is to find out the health of the troop structure and how damaged they may be due to human intervention,, things to look for are adult male to female ratio, injuries within the troop  i.e.electricity plyons or snares and where they come from. Baboons are often seen without limbs possibly due to snares, also Karen observes  their movements and behavior.Monitoring their diet is quite difficult and within this area this has never been done, obviously observing the trees they feed in is important, and it is interesting to note that although they do forage through human waste especially garbage sites the majority of their diet thankfully is natural.

I felt extremely lucky to watch these Baboons on my first trip out to find them and it was also great to be in the company of  Karin she is  such a knowledgable companion

 

It was interesting on another day out when we went to search for this troop of Baboons that instead of finding them we came across a troop of wild vervet monkeys they are not as easy to find as they stay more in the trees and are very quick to disappear when they hear you coming, Karin has a wonderful way of talking to these animals in their own voice and she was able to comunicate to them and they appeared from nowhere.

A truck passed on the road with several dogs in the back and two male monkeys instantly saw them and the noise was incredible they barked a loud noise to the rest of the troop and everyone climbed high into the trees out of harms way this natural behaviour was great to observe.

On another visit it was distressing to see perhaps the reason so many of these baboons choose to be in the roads, there was a car with two men in it throwing beer cans at the baboons there was also evidence of fast food cartons around.

They obviously found it amusing to be shouting at the baboons and taking pleasure out of watching them drink the beer, it goes without saying that this is so bad for them and should not be allowed to happen, there are signs alomng the roadside warning of fines if you are caught but never anybody policing the area. 

 

THE SALT RIVER TROOP

 

This property adjoins the Salt River and incorporates a very large gorge, it was interesting to see one afternoon whilst sitting outside with the baby vervets two large Baboons watching us, the babies were put into their enclosure so we could follow and observe them, we took a track through the forest and was very aware of their presence they were calling and although their calls were very nearby we did not  catch a glimpse of them again, we did however find a place that was a suitable night resting area for a baboon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 THE GAIA TROOP

This is the troop Karin has been watching and following now for 6 years they all know her extremely well and are comfortable to allow her into their space, she goes off every morning to film them as part of a wildlife documentary she is doing, once she has located them and got whatever necessary filming done she returns for me and we go and observe them, It is fascinating they allow us to get so close and are very at ease with our prescence. A baby had been born overnight and the male is very protective of it not allowing us to get close enough for a photograph but still happy to let us be nearby

 

They forage for about 2 hours and then socialize with each other youngsters or babies playing under the watchful eye of their father and also a lot of grooming is done, they come very close and Karin has even been groomed by the male which  as she says was unbelievable.

 

Gradually they move on through the dense bush which for us is impassable but they will hopefully be back tommorrow

Unfortunately tomorrow bought upsetting news one of the local workers had observed a lot of activity from his dogs and upon observation found a dead baboon in the bushes, She was a mature female fortunately not a nursing mother but a mystery as to why she had died, Karin identified her as being called Patty who was middle aged.

 Her skin had a green discolouring on her stomach which led us to think that maybe it was some sort of posioning, after consultation with a vet who has worked with Baboons it was clear that the green colour was bruising and there were also a lot of puncture wounds it became clear that this was a dog attack, there are 3 dogs on the farm adjoining where these Baboons live and we saw them the following day all together as a pack. It is upsetting to think domestic dogs would do this and also to realise the terrible death she had.  In order to stop the interest the dogs had in her we had bought her home and John as he has had to do too many times gave her a dignified burial.I have  shown pictures of this Baboon  as far too often we shy away from death and only report the good things we experience, unfortunately this sort of thing happens too often and awareness as to what is happening around us is not a bad thing.