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| Chacma Baboon
Lower Risk (lc)
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| Papio ursinus (Kerr, 1792) |
The Chacma Baboon (Papio ursinus) is a baboon from the Old World monkey family. With a body length of up to 115 cm and a weight from 15 to 31 kg they form the largest and heaviest baboons. They have dark-brown or grey skin with a the long snout, but unlike other baboons, the males do not have mane.
Their range is southern Africa and extends south of Angola, Zambia and Mozambique to South Africa. Within the range sizes and skin coloring can vary, particularly small Chacma Baboons occur in the Kalahari.
Like all baboons they live in groups, mostly in mixed social groups, although in some regions (for example part of South Africa) an alpha male dominates. They possess a complex group behavior and communicate by means of body attitudes, facial expressions, sounds and touch. Chacma Baoons are omnivorous with a preference for fruits, while also eating insects, seeds and smaller vertebrate animals.
Chacma Baboons are widespread and do not rank not among the threatened animal species.
There are three subspecies of Chacma Baboon:
Science stubs Old World monkeys