The yellow baboon (Papio cynocephalus) is a baboon in the family of Old World monkeys. The species epithet means "dog-head" in Greek, due to the dog-like shape of the muzzle and head. Yellow baboons have slim bodies with long arms and legs along with yellowish-brown hair. They resemble the chacma baboon, but are somewhat smaller and with a less elongated muzzle. Their hairless faces are black, framed with white sideburns. Males can grow to about 84 cm, females to about 60 cm. They have long tails which grow to be nearly as long as their bodies. The average life span of the yellow baboon in the wild is roughly 15–20 years; some may live up to 30 years.
Yellow baboons inhabit savannas and light forests in eastern Africa, from Kenya and Tanzania to Zimbabwe and Botswana. They are diurnal, terrestrial, and live in complex, mixed-gender social groups of 8 to 200 individuals per troop. Like all other baboon species, they are omnivorous, with a preference for fruits; they also eat plants, leaves, seeds, grasses, bulbs, bark, blossoms and fungi, as well as worms, grubs, insects, spiders, scorpions, birds, rodents and small mammals. All species of baboons are highly opportunistic feeders and will eat virtually any food they can find.
Baboons fulfill several functions in their ecosystem, not only serving as food for larger predators, but also dispersing seeds in their waste and through their messy foraging habits. They are also efficient predators of smaller animals and their young.
Baboons have been able to fill a variety of ecological niches, including places inhospitable to other animals, such as regions taken over by human settlement. Thus, they are one of the most successful African primates and are not listed as threatened or endangered. However, the same behavioral adaptations that make them so successful also cause them to be considered pests by humans in many areas. Raids on farmers' crops and livestock and other such intrusions into human settlements have made most baboons species subject to many organized extermination projects. However, continued habitat loss forces more and more baboons to migrate toward areas of human settlement.
^Groves, C. P. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 166. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. OCLC 62265494.
^Wallis, J. (2020). "Papio cynocephalus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T92250442A92251260. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T92250442A92251260.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
The yellowbaboon (Papio cynocephalus) is a baboon in the family of Old World monkeys. The species epithet means "dog-head" in Greek, due to the dog-like...
six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellowbaboon, the Kinda baboon and the chacma baboon. Each species...
possibly western Tanzania. It was once considered a subspecies of the yellowbaboon (P. cynocephalus), then distinct enough to merit status as full species...
baboon a subspecies of the yellowbaboon, Papio cynocephalus, although it is now recognised as a separate species, Papio ursinus. The chacma baboon has...
olive baboon is named for its coat, which, at a distance, is a shade of green-grey. At closer range, its coat is multicoloured, due to rings of yellow-brown...
The Guinea baboon (Papio papio) is a baboon from the Old World monkey family. Some (older) classifications list only two species in the genus Papio, this...
The hamadryas baboon (Papio hamadryas /ˌhæməˈdraɪ.əs/; Tigrinya: ጋውና gawina; Arabic: الرُبَّاح, Al Robah) is a species of baboon within the Old World monkey...
Jaldeessa daabee), sometimes called the bleeding-heart monkey or the gelada baboon, is a species of Old World monkey found only in the Ethiopian Highlands...
—ETHIOPIA Diodorus Siculus, Library, 3.35.5 The binomial name for the yellowbaboon is Papio cynocephalus, while Cynocephalus has also been adopted as the...
shares the genus Mandrillus. Both species were traditionally thought to be baboons, but further evidence has shown that they are more closely related to white-eyelid...
The Amboseli Baboon Project is a long-term, individual-based research project on yellowbaboons (Papio cynocephalus) in the Amboseli basin of southern...
"Individuality and Male Discrimination of Female Copulation Calls in the YellowBaboon". Animal Behaviour. 61 (5): 1023–1028. doi:10.1006/anbe.2001.1692. S2CID 5916376...
of the monkey's opponent. In yellowbaboons the redirected anger was toward the rival baboon's friends. Yellowbaboons are known to form long term friendships...
golden-green fur and pale hands and feet. The tip of the tail is golden yellow as are the backs of the thighs and cheek whiskers. It does not have a distinguishing...
conspecifics during instances of within-group contest interactions. In the yellowbaboon, adult females form relationships with their kin, who offer support...
making it the largest primate family. Old World monkey genera include baboons (genus Papio), red colobus (genus Piliocolobus) and macaques (genus Macaca)...
monkeys have four confirmed predators: leopards, eagles, pythons, and baboons. The sighting of each predator elicits an acoustically distinct alarm call...
ecosystem. Some of the many mammals found in the park include: Aardwolf Yellowbaboon African buffalo Senegal bushbaby Bushbuck Caracal African wildcat Southeast...
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