"Social Behavior and Reproductive Strategies of Female Hamadryas Baboons, Papio hamadryas hamadryas, in Ethiopia - Cloned" by Larissa Swedell

Larissa Swedell

Deposited 2000

Abstract
This study elucidates the role of female behavior in the social organization of wild hamadryas baboons. The site for this project was the Filoha outpost of the Awash National Park in Ethiopia, where behavioral observations, including 10-minute scan samples, continuous focal samples, and ad libitum observations, took place over fourteen months between October 1996 and September 1998. Most aspects of the behavioral ecology, reproductive parameters, and social structure of this population were found to be similar to those of other hamadryas populations. Patterns of social interaction differed, however, in that the “star-shaped” sociogram previously attributed to hamadryas one-male units did not characterize this population. At Filoha, females varied widely in their patterns of association and interaction with all age-sex classes of individuals. Females interacted socially with other females about as much, on average, as they did with their leader males. The number of females in a unit was positively correlated with the tendency of its females to interact with other females. Females who spent social time with other females did so at a relatively equal frequency whether or not their leader male was available for social interaction at the time. The differentiated female social relationships found in this study, combined with genetic data and evidence from other studies, suggest that levels of relatedness among hamadryas females are higher than has previously been assumed and that pairs of hamadryas females who interact the most may do so because they are closely related. Results from this study also suggest that, while females may have preferences for some males over others and occasionally exercise those preferences, a hamadryas, female's main interest lies in maintaining a strong association with her leader male, who can provide protection for both herself and her offspring. Observations of kidnappings by non-leader males and protection of infants by leader males suggest that the behavior of non-leader males toward infants has the potential to lead to injury or death and that the protection of a female's leader male is critical to infant survival.