A number of small troups of Hamadryas Baboon Papio
hamadryas were seen whilst birding the Raydah Escarpment near Abha. This
species is the northernmost of all the baboons and is distinguished from other
baboons by the male’s long, silver-grey shoulder cape (mane and mantle), and
the pink or red rather than black face and rump. They are large monkeys with a
dog-like face, pronounced brow ridges, relatively long limbs with short digits,
rather coarse fur, and a relatively short tail. The male is considerably larger
than the female, often twice as large, and has a heavy silvery-grey coat, bushy
cheeks, and large canine teeth whilst the juvenile and females are brown, with
dark brown skin on the face and rump. Males may have a body measurement of up
to 80 cm and weigh 20–30 kg; females weigh 10–15 kg and have a body length of
40–45 cm. The tail adds a further 40–60
cm to the length, and ends in a small tuft. They occur in north-eastern Africa,
mainly in Ethiopia, but also eastern Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti and northern
Somalia as well as the Arabian Peninsula, in Saudi Arabia and Yemen where it is
the only native non-human primate. In Saudi Arabia, they inhabit arid sub-desert,
steppe, hilly areas, escarpments at elevations of up to 3,000 metres requiring
cliffs for sleeping and finding water. They are primarily terrestrial, but will
sleep in trees or on cliffs at night. An opportunistic feeder, it will take a
wide variety of foods, including grass, fruit, roots and tubers, seeds, leaves,
buds and insects. The female usually gives birth to a single young with the
newborn having black fur and pink skin, and is suckled for up to 15 months.
Each adult male controls a small group of females (a harem) and their young,
and remains bonded with the same females over several years, aggressively
‘herding’ any that wander, and retaining exclusive mating rights over the
group. The females will often compete to groom and stay close to the male, and
it is the male who dictates the group’s movements. The Hamadryas Baboon is
listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES). Recent studies have suggested that the population of Hamadryas
Baboons in Arabia colonised the peninsula much longer ago than previously
thought, and shows a considerable amount of genetic variation compared to the
African population.
