Baboons

Observed by dshubble

Southampton Natural History Society
dshubble's reputation in Mammalsdshubble's reputation in Mammals on 5th November 2000

Larger view of Baboons

Part of a large troop.

Location: Lake Nakuru NP

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Identification
  • likely IDhelp icon
    Olive Baboon (Papio anubis)
    Confidence: I'm as sure as I can be.

Comments

Olive baboons

8 February 2010 - The Naturalist Man
OPAL iSpot mentor
Mammals expert

The baboons to the west of Mt Kenya are pure-bred olive baboons, therefore, these are olive baboons. The populations to the east and south of the Mt Kenya area readily hybridise with yellow baboons to the extent that it can be impossible to say which species some animals belong to. There are seven sub-species, mainly due to hybridisation with other species, to my knowledge the ones at Lake Nakuru are the nominate P.a.anubis race. In fact it was itself considered a sub-species of the hamadryas baboon (Papio hamadryas), only becoming accepted as a species in its own right 15 or so years ago.

Another good example for the discussion of speciation at:

http://www.ispot.org.uk/node/10934

Unlike the smooth haired yellow baboons you most often see in zoos, this species has shaggy, 'blow-dried' look.

Graham Banwell
The Naturalist Man

iSpot Biodiversity Mentor - Yorkshire

Baboon speciation

9 February 2010 - dshubble
Southampton Natural History Society
dshubble's reputation in Mammalsdshubble's reputation in Mammals

Ta for that - as with the colobus info, very interesting and not an area I know a lot about.