The most vicious baboon 6 letters. Monkey baboon (lat.

Residents of Africa are sure that the baboon is more dangerous than the leopard. The opinion was drawn from close encounters with these evil, nosy, pugnacious and cunning monkeys, who constantly appear in crime reports.

Description of the baboon

From the point of view of most zoologists, the genus Papio (baboons) includes five species of primates from the family Ape - anubis, baboon, hamadryas, Guinea baboon and bear baboon (chacma). Some scientists, confident that the division into five is incorrect, combine all varieties into one group.

Appearance

Males are almost 2 times larger than their females, and the most representative among Papio is the bear baboon, growing up to 1.2 m with a weight of 40 kg. The Guinea baboon is recognized as the smallest, its height does not exceed half a meter and weighs only 14 kg..

The color of the fur varies (depending on the species) from brown to grayish-silver. All primates are distinguished by strong jaws with sharp fangs and close-set eyes. It is impossible to confuse a female baboon with a male - males have more impressive fangs and noticeable white manes adorning their heads. There is no hair on the face, and the skin is colored black or pink.

Important! There is no fur on the buttocks, but this part of the body is equipped with pronounced ischial calluses. With the onset of the breeding season, the buttocks of females swell and become red.

The tail of baboons looks like an even column, curved and raised at the base, and then hangs freely downwards.

Lifestyle

The life of baboons is full of hardships and dangers: they constantly have to be on guard, periodically starve and experience excruciating thirst. For most of the day, baboons wander on the ground, leaning on all fours and sometimes climbing trees. To survive, primates have to unite into large herds of up to forty relatives. About six males, twice as many females, and their children together can coexist in a group.

With the arrival of twilight, monkeys settle down to sleep, climbing higher - on the same trees or rocks. Females tend to surround their leaders. They go to bed while sitting, which is greatly facilitated by elastic sciatic calluses, which allow them to not notice the inconvenience of the chosen position for a long time. They set off on their journey during the day, in a well-organized community, in the center of which are the alpha male and mothers with cubs. They are accompanied and guarded by younger males, who are the first to take the blow in case of danger and make sure that the females do not break away from the herd.

This is interesting! Growing young animals from time to time try to overthrow the dominant male, running into fights. The struggle for power knows no compromises: the loser obeys the leader and shares with him the most delicious prey.

The battle for leadership is rarely fought alone. To cope with a super-aggressive and strong dominant male, subdominant ones create temporary fighting alliances. This makes sense - males classified as low-ranking get sick more often and die earlier. In general, baboons have a good ability to adapt to the world and remarkable endurance, which allows them to live for quite a long time. IN wildlife these monkeys live up to 30 years, in zoos - up to about 45.

Range, habitats

The baboon’s homeland is almost the entire vast African continent, divided into habitats of individual species. The baboon is found in the territory from Angola to South Africa and Kenya, the baboon and anubis live somewhat to the north, inhabiting the equatorial regions of Africa from east to west. A slightly less wide range is occupied by the two remaining species: the Guinea baboon lives in Cameroon, Guinea and Senegal, and the hamadryas inhabits Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and part Arabian Peninsula(Aden area).

Baboons are well adapted to life in savannas, semi-deserts and woodlands, and in recent years began to oppress people, settling closer and closer to human habitation. Monkeys become not only annoying, but also arrogant neighbors.

This is interesting! The predatory tendencies of baboons were noted in the middle of the last century, when they stole food from the inhabitants of the Cape Peninsula (South Africa), ravaged plantations and exterminated livestock.

According to Justin O'Ryan, a worker in the baboon research section, his charges learned to break windows, open doors and even dismantle tile roofs. But contact between monkeys and humans is dangerous for both sides - baboons bite and scratch, and people kill them. To keep the primates in their traditional habitats, rangers control the movements of the herd by marking the animals with paint from paintball rifles.

Baboon diet

Monkeys prefer plant food, but on occasion they will not refuse animal food. In search of suitable provisions, they cover from 20 to 60 km per day, merging (thanks to the color of their coat) with the main background of the area.

The diet of baboons contains:

fruits, rhizomes and tubers;
seeds and grass;
shellfish and fish;
insects;
birds;
hares;
young antelopes.

But baboons have long been dissatisfied with the gifts of nature - the tailed sneaks have become adept at stealing food from cars, houses and garbage cans. In the southern regions of Africa, these monkeys increasingly hunt livestock (sheep and goats).

This is interesting! The appetite of primates is growing every year: observation of 16 groups of bear baboons showed that only one group is content with pasture, and the rest have long since retrained as raiders.

The merciless African sun, which dries up small rivers, forces us to find alternative sources of water. Monkeys have trained themselves to get moisture by digging up the bottom of dry reservoirs..

Natural enemies

Predators avoid mature baboons, especially those walking in a large herd, but they will not miss the chance to attack a female, weakened or young primate.

In the open space above the herd there is a constant threat of attack from such natural enemies as:

leopard;
spotted hyena;
jackal and red wolf;
hyena dogs;
Nile crocodile;
(rarely).

Young males walking along the edges of the herd continuously monitor the area and, seeing the enemy, line up in a crescent to cut him off from their relatives. A signal of danger is an alarming bark, upon hearing which, females with their cubs huddle together, and the males step forward.

They look quite terrifying - their evil grin and raised fur clearly hint at their readiness for a merciless battle. The predator, who did not heed the threat, quickly feels on his own skin how harmoniously the baboon army acts, and usually retreats ingloriously.

Reproduction and offspring

Not every male gets access to the female’s body at the beginning of the mating season: the lower the status and age of the applicant, the lower his chances of reciprocity. Unlimited sexual intercourse can only be had by a dominant male, who has the preferential right to mate with any partner in the herd.

Polygamy

In this regard, the results of observations that were carried out in open-air conditions are very interesting. Biologists found out how the age of a male correlates with polygamy, or more precisely, with the likelihood of acquiring his own harem. It was found that all 4-6 year old baboons who entered childbearing age were still single. Only a single seven-year-old male had a harem consisting of one wife.

This is interesting! Enclosure baboons who reached the age of 9 years received the privilege of polygamy, and over the next 3–4 years the right to an individual harem continued to strengthen.

In the category of 9–11 year old baboons, already half became polygamists, and the heyday of polygamy occurred at the age of 12–14 years. Thus, among 12-year-old monkeys, 80% of individuals used personal harems. And finally, the most extensive harems (compared to younger age categories) were those of baboons who crossed the line of 13 and 14 years. But the harems of 15-year-old males began to gradually crumble.

Birth of offspring

Baboons often fight for females, and in some species they do not leave her even after successful sexual intercourse - they obtain food, deliver births and help care for newborns. Pregnancy lasts from 154 to 183 days and ends with the birth of a single calf weighing approximately 0.4 kg. The baby, with a pink muzzle and black fur, clings to its mother's belly in order to travel with its mother, at the same time feeding on her milk. Having grown stronger, the child moves onto his back, stopping feeding with milk by the age of 6 months.

When a baboon is 4 months old, its face darkens and its fur becomes somewhat lighter, acquiring gray or brown tones. The final species coloration usually appears by the age of one year. Weaned primates form a kin group, reaching fertility no earlier than 3–5 years. Young females always remain with their mother, and males tend to leave the herd without waiting for puberty.

On the Arabian Peninsula, in addition to humans, there is another species of primate - hamadryas baboons ( Papio hamadryas). This species is of African origin, as evidenced by its discontinuous range, which includes, in addition to the mountainous region of the Arabian Peninsula near the Red Sea, also areas in Egypt and Sudan. The sea seemed to cut the habitat of these monkeys into two parts.

Hamadryas are one of the most spectacular species of baboons, or dog-headed monkeys. Indeed, their muzzle is elongated like a dog’s, and the similarity with dogs is completed by the fact that they have huge fangs and walk on all four legs. Baboons lead a terrestrial lifestyle, but in case of danger they easily climb any trees. Adult males are covered with long, silvery hair, making them appear twice their size. Females and young males of hamadryas are brown-brown. In the first months of life, the cubs are black, and their muzzle is not as elongated as that of adults.

In the wild, baboons live large family groups with a strict system of subordination - hierarchy. Many researchers have noted great similarities in the structure of relationships within groups of baboons and among people. In this regard, baboons are closer to humans than other monkeys, although their genealogical relationship with us is not as close as with apes. However, the similarity in the behavior of baboon and human groups is so striking that scientists, studying life of baboons, learn the laws of development of human society. This parallel (convergent) development in the process of evolution of two different groups is explained quite simply. Both baboons and ancient people became real land creatures who are faced with a large number dangers, among which predatory animals are of no small importance. A cohesive team is better able to resist the enemy. Sometimes baboons in nature can drive away their own worst enemy– leopard. To do this, several adult and young males unite - and their energy, directed at one point, sweeps away everything in its path...

IN English It is customary to call baboons “baboons.” This name is sometimes used in Russian in relation to hamadryas, anubis and some other baboons that have long tails*. Hamadryas have another name - “sacred baboon”. It appeared in Ancient Egypt, where they noticed that early in the morning these monkeys could often be seen sitting in groups on the eastern slope of a hill and stretching their hands towards the sun - as if praying to the sun god Ra. In fact, everything is much simpler. There are big differences in the desert temperature regime and after a cool night, the animals really gather on the hillside to bask under the first rays of the life-giving sun. At the same time, they take different poses, exposing individual parts of their body to the sun.

A group of hamadryas baboons in the enclosure of the Riyadh Zoo

At the Riyadh Zoo (Saudi Arabia), about thirty hamadryas (including young animals) are kept in an enclosure with an area of approximately 15-30 m and a height of about 5 m. Several natural boulders and large stones are piled inside, special structures for climbing are made from metal pipes, and in the upper Parts of the enclosure have metal support beams that are comfortable for sitting.

At the zoo in another Saudi city, Tabuk, there were more than fifty hamadryas in a smaller enclosure. And there, adult males, of which I counted more than a dozen, got along well with each other. At the Riyadh Zoo, bloody fights sometimes took place between adult males. After each of these skirmishes, one or more animals had to be placed in separate small cages. It is almost impossible to return such a male to the group after treatment. In the nature of such aggressive clarifications of circumstances between animals, there are either fewer of them, or they end with the male, defeated in the struggle for leadership, simply being expelled from the group. He can form a group with outcasts like him, join another family, or create his own. More often, such problems arise with young sexually mature males who begin to fight for leadership with an old male. However, the strongest does not always win. It happens that old males, cooperating with each other, give the young one a thrashing and remain at their post. But sometimes the opposite happens.

I remember the case when in 1997 we organized a collection of animals for a new zoo in the city of Hail, which is located 700 km from Riyadh. We transported there, among other animals, a group of our baboons, among which there was one adult male, separated from the main zoo group after a conflict with his brother. His brother was about the same age as him, and was even smaller in size than this male, but his degree of aggressiveness was higher, and he won. Our "outcast" for a long time I sat in a small cage at the veterinary center and saw my fellow tribesmen only through the bars. There, in a separate room, three females who had already reached sexual maturity were kept, and a hierarchical relationship was established between them. These same four, and a couple of three-year-old baboons, were selected to move to a new place. Upon arrival in Hail, we began to transplant the monkeys into a new spacious enclosure. It turned out that in addition to our baboons, three more individuals had to be placed there, which were purchased by local zoo employees. It was fortunate that all the animals were released at the same time, preventing any of them from occupying the territory first. Of the “local” trio, two were half-adult males and one was a young female. Before this, they were kept together in a small cage and a hierarchical order had already been established between them. Among them was the recognized “chief” and his subordinates.

When releasing the baboons, I tried to do it as quickly as possible. And he began to observe. An adult male with silver fur (a former outcast) immediately took the “reins of power” into his own hands. Having walked around the enclosure (along the way, as if not noticing the animals he encountered), he sat down on a raised platform in its very center. He looked regal. I watched the young male, the “chief” of the other group, and waited for his reaction, which soon followed. In company with his “assistant,” he twice tried to attack the “gray-haired” male. But he mercilessly gave them both a thrashing. After which the females approached the old man and sat down next to him, and both young males took a place in the far part of the enclosure. Subsequently, the order did not change. Essentially, we combined two different groups of monkeys, and our experiment was a success.

Baboons belong to the monkey family ( Cercopithecidae), which besides them includes macaques, marmosets, mangabeys and tonkoboli. All these monkeys live in the Old World - from Africa to South Asia and the islands of the Indo-Australian archipelago. Between them there is no doubt family ties, which is sometimes proven by facts. While visiting the Tabuk Zoo, I saw an interesting pair of monkeys in one of the cages. The female clearly belonged to the hamadryas baboons, and the male was of hybrid origin. His father, a rhesus macaque, lived in the same zoo along with a herd of fifty hamadryas, and his mother was one of the hamadryas. Apparently, in the herd, the rhesus was able to occupy a certain, not very low, step in social relations and acquired a female. Thus the hybrid cub was born. He was noticed by zoo staff and separated from the group. To keep him from getting bored, a female baboon was placed in his cage. During my visit to this zoo, the hybrid male was already fully grown - at the age of five to six years. His body was covered with a “mane” of long hair, but its color was brown, not silver. The muzzle was not so elongated, but had a size average between the muzzle of macaques and baboons. He treated the female baboon strictly, as in a normal monkey family. But they did not have cubs, which may indicate that the male was infertile. Although, to accurately establish this fact, it would be necessary to conduct research on his seminal fluid or try to add two or three more females to him. In any case, this fact deserves attention and speaks of the closely related relationships of the narrow-nosed monkeys. At least between macaques and baboons. From the literature and the Internet available to me, I learned that only two similar cases of crossing hamadryas with rhesus monkeys have been recorded in the world. They both originated in zoos and all hybrids were sterile.

Young baboons aged one to three years are often sold in the Riyadh market. They are caught from the wild population in the Taif region and brought to the city for sale. Almost every month, such monkeys are taken to the zoo - after playing with the baby and raising it to adolescence, people are beginning to understand that a monkey in the house is not what they dreamed of... Sometimes we had more than a dozen of them.

At the same time, ecologists from the Saudi Arabian Nature Conservation Commission found that despite poaching for the purpose of sale, there are more and more baboons in the wild. What's the matter? Firstly, the leopard, which is the main regulator of the number of monkeys in nature, disappeared. Secondly, it turned out that the baboons had found an excellent source of food - they began begging on the road leading from Riyadh to Mecca and Jeddah. The road cuts with a serpentine ribbon mountain system. This is where flocks of half-starved monkeys await passengers and drivers. They no longer want to feed on the sparse vegetation and small animals of the mountains, but boldly approach cars stopped at the pass, jump onto their roofs and hoods, and look into people’s pockets. True, people, knowing in advance about the upcoming unusual meeting, prepare bananas, oranges, sandwiches and other foods and treat their distant relatives with it. The Nature Conservation Commission ruled that this was harmful to the mountain ecosystem, upsetting its balance, and issued a leaflet explaining that baboons should not be fed to avoid increasing their numbers. But people are people, and very often their actions are guided not by sober reason, but by “beautiful impulses of the soul.”

In addition to the fact that hamadryas were “gifted” to the zoo by visitors (many of these animals looked simply pathetic - some had rickets and anemia from improper feeding and being kept in cramped cages), there were often calls: “Come and catch the monkey that has settled in our ( or neighboring) garden, park, etc.” For such a catch, it was necessary to take with you a gun with a flying syringe, a net and a transport cage. Often everything ended in failure - the monkey, having an unlimited territory at its disposal and having managed to study the habits of people, easily eluded us and our assistants. Especially that our gun shoots only at 5–10 m... Once we unsuccessfully rushed after a young male throughout the diplomatic quarter with its parks and palm groves in rough terrain... And one female settled on the roof of a restaurant almost in the center of Riyadh . She was clearly tame, but very wary of strangers. When the veterinarian and I entered the restaurant lobby, we were told that the monkey was in the food warehouse area. We went there and saw her sitting on the fence watching the movers carrying boxes from the car to the warehouse. As soon as we picked up a gun, the baboon hid behind a column, and then quickly climbed onto the roof and disappeared from view. It became clear that she was familiar with such weapons and the consequences of their use. About five minutes later we were told that she had gone down into the hall through the upper window. We rushed there, but the cunning beast showed us only its tail. We wandered around like this for about two hours, and finally we managed to immobilize the monkey and deliver it safely to the zoo. But this was achieved with such hard work that every time subsequently, driving past the ill-fated restaurant, I remembered the cunning female hamadryas not so much with annoyance as with respect - as a worthy opponent.

The male shows off his remarkable teeth

In recent years, the Nature Conservation Commission has begun raiding the Bird Market and numerous private pet shops in Riyadh, confiscating animals listed as endangered species in Saudi Arabia. This also affected baboons, who were brought to us in dozens. We could not explain to the police and the Commission that we did not have room for so many hamadryas, and we took away all the confiscated animals. It was necessary to look for a reasonable way out of the critical situation that had arisen. And he was found. I met the head of the vivarium at the Research Center of the King Faisal Hospital, Professor Shahin Naqib, a man with a wealth of professional knowledge. The vivarium, which he headed, contained a wide variety of animals - dogs, baboons, cats, rats and mice, guinea pigs and rabbits, sheep and goats. Research and experiments were carried out with them, the ultimate goal of which was to combat human ailments. As a result, we began to donate excess baboons to this Research Center. Animals were kept there for a long time and even gave birth to offspring. Dr. Shahin complained about this more than once, saying that he separated the males from the females, but the cubs continued to be born. I once examined the enclosures where the “seated” baboons were kept - it turned out that they were closely adjacent to each other and the animals were separated by only one layer of coarse mesh...

* With a more strict approach in the domestic scientific literature A very specific species of African baboons is called a baboon. Papio cynocephalus. – Approx. edit.

Taxonomists divided Old World primates into three families:

ape-like with two subfamilies:

marmosets (monkeys, mangabeys, macaques, baboons - 37 species),

thin-bodied and thick-bodied monkeys, or kolobovs (langurs, hulmans, big-nosed monkeys, thick-bodied monkeys, gverets - 21 species);

anthropoids with two subfamilies:

gibbons (7 species) and true apes (4 species),

hominids (1 species, human).

Marmosets are small monkeys weighing up to 10 kilograms, slender, light, long-tailed, short-muzzled, rounded skull, without highly developed brow ridges, hind legs noticeably longer than the front ones, small ischial calluses, bright colors, black, red, white, even green tones . They live almost exclusively in trees, usually in tropical forests, less common in savannas, near rivers. They live only in Africa, south of the Sahara.

Macaques are more massive, their weight is up to 13 kilograms, they are squat, with strong legs and arms, muzzles are elongated in a dog-like manner, with jaws and teeth more powerful than those of monkeys, and short tails. They live on the ground, in trees, in forests, on bare rocks, in mangroves. And all but one species are in South Asia (from West Pakistan to Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and Sulawesi). The only North African (Morocco, Algeria) and European (Gibraltar) species is the tailless magot.

Baboons are even more dog-headed, fanged, and massive than macaques (a mandrill weighs 54 kilograms). They live almost exclusively on the ground, in dry savannas, on rocky plateaus, but some also in forests. Baboons have large, bright red calluses. Tails are very short or medium length. All except the hamadryas, which also lives in Arabia, are African.

Monkeys live in flocks, family groups, sometimes in company with mangabeys, kolobobs, but never with baboons and chimpanzees; they wander through the forests during the day in search of fruits, nuts, insects, snails, spiders, small birds, lizards, frogs, and anything edible they come across. True, some have more specific tastes, but in general they are omnivores.

Talapuenas, or pygmy monkeys, from the genus Myopithecus. They are slightly larger than squirrels and live in forests along the banks of rivers and lakes in Western and Central Africa.

In some species, for example, in blue-faced gwenons, the same hierarchy in flocks is observed, as in baboons and macaques, which will be discussed later. But many, apparently, live more “democratically”, without a strict division into ranks. Some protect their territory and roam only within its borders (blue-faced and large white-nosed gwenons), others do not adhere to such rules.

Most monkeys are residents of dense tropical forests, some prefer the peaks, others stay lower, others, having left the dense wilds of forests, moved to dry savannas, steppes and bushes. These are green monkeys, which, like macaques, roam the earth a lot.

An even greater lover of open spaces, rich in grass but poor in trees, is the hussar, or patas. He is also often called a monkey, but he is from a different genus than the real Gwenons. He probably got the name hussar because of the reddish-red color of his coat. There are two subspecies of hussars: the black-nosed, or patas (from Senegal to Ethiopia, south to Tanganyika and Congo), and the white-nosed, or nisnas (Eastern Sudan, Nubia, Somalia). This is one of the first monkeys described by ancient authors, in particular Aelian.

None of the monkeys loves to roam the earth as much and willingly as the hussar. An adult hussar is rarely seen in a tree during the day. Moreover, when fleeing from enemies, he often does not rush to a tree, like other monkeys, to climb higher, but runs away along the ground at a fast gallop at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour. On a bad road, not a single car can keep up with a hussar! This is perhaps the fastest-footed of the monkeys.

Hussars live in packs. Each has an individual territory of about 20 square miles. During the day they roam the steppe, within its boundaries they travel from several hundred meters to 12 kilometers. They usually spend the night in trees. There are 7-12 females and young monkeys in the troop and there is always only one adult male, who is twice the height and weight (25 kilograms) of any female. He is a very sensitive watchman and guardian of his harem and is not at all as tyrannical in his treatment of his wives as male baboons. Among the females, a strict division into ranks was noticed: the highest in the hierarchy always sit closer to the male, and with them their cubs. There are eternal squabbles over these central places.

Two more species of monkeys of special genera (not Cercopithecus) complement the Gwenon group: the pygmy monkey (the smallest of the Old World monkeys - length without tail is 35 centimeters) and the black-green, or marsh, monkey. The first lives in swampy forests and mangroves at the mouth of the Congo, in northern Angola and two thousand miles east, on the slopes of the Rwenzori Mountains. The second was opened only in 1907 in the Congo. Outwardly, it looks like a monkey, although a number of morphological features bring it closer to mangabeys. Apparently, this is a transitional form between them and monkeys, and through mangabeys it closes the family ties between gwenons and macaques and baboons.

Monkeys tolerate captivity quite easily, and many live in zoos for a long time (the record is 26 years!). They, just like rhesus animals, are kept in laboratories for various medical and biological experiments.

“25 thousand monkeys were exported from Kenya alone for these purposes in 1962” (Dr. Walter Fiedler).

The mangabey is similar to a monkey, but the muzzle is longer, like a macaque. And the teeth are also like those of macaques: the third lower molar has five tubercles (monkeys have four). In males, the ischial calluses are also more macaque-type than marmoset, and the upper eyelids are “tinted” white, like those of the gelada baboon.

These white spots seem to emphasize the intense gaze of the leader, with which he threatens a rival or a lower rank. When two males intend to scare each other, they raise their eyebrows to make the white spots on their eyelids more clearly visible, and stand nose to nose for a long time, as if they were captivated by a children's game of staring contest. Then they will begin to blink their white eyelids, stretch out their lower lip, smack their lips, “chat,” and tease each other, sometimes sticking out their tongues, sometimes hiding them.

The name "Mangabey" comes from the Madagascar city of Mangaba, from where these monkeys were first brought to Europe. But their homeland tropical Africa: Damp, swampy forests and mangroves from Liberia to Angola, and east to Kenya. Here, almost without leaving the trees, four species of mangabey live: collared (gray-brown with a white collar around the neck and often with a red “cap”), black or crested (with a long tuft of hair directed upward in the form of a braid on the crown), maned (with a small mane on the neck and shoulders) and frisky (brown-olive with a lush “cap” of hair on the head).

For many years in a row, Japanese biologists studied the life of macaques, which in some places still survived on their islands. One troop of macaques lived on Mount Takasakiyama, “cut off from the world on three sides by the sea, and on the fourth by mountain ranges.” The monkeys sat and walked along it not at random, but in strict order and depending on the “rank” of each monkey. In the center there were always males and females of the highest rank. Only children were allowed to frolic here. There were sixteen adult males living on Takasakiyama, but only six of them had such high prerogatives that they could walk “in the center.” All others were denied entry. They, also strictly according to rank, were located on the edge around the privileged center. The order was as follows: the first circular orbit, closest to the leaders, was occupied by females of lower rank. And the second behind her are young and weak males. Only very young monkeys were allowed to cross the boundaries of all ranks at will.

In the evening the monkeys went to bed. In the vanguard is a patrol of young males, then the leader males, with them females of the highest rank with cubs. When they left their central residence on the hill, the males subordinate to them came there without fear and took away the lower-ranking females. The procession was closed by the youth, who usually lingered to frolic at the “throne” of the leaders. She was accompanied by a detachment of adult males.

In the morning, the monkey caravan returns to the mountain and is located strictly according to spheres of influence.

In Japan, zoologists have now registered about thirty similar monkey communities, which unite 4,300 macaques different ages. Each flock has its own territory from 2 to 15 square kilometers, within which the monkeys roam during the day in search of fruits, edible leaves and other provisions. There are from 4-5 to 600 macaques in a flock. But usually from 30 to 150. Monkeys spend the night in dense forests or on steep cliffs, in trees.

The rank of males is determined by age and strength, but females have a different order. Age itself does not play a special role; what matters more is the personal influence on males of the highest rank and the sympathy that they show towards them. Therefore, constant movements occur among the females, which does not occur without quarrels and fights. The daughters and even nieces of a female of the highest rank are “automatically” included in the central circle, since the mother protects and cares for them all. Sons are a different matter. As soon as they turn one and a half to two years old, they go into the outer circle and fight on their own for rank and influence in the pack. Among the seventy macaques that live on the small island of Koshima, the most influential family group is the old monkey, which has more female descendants than the others!

When the time comes for breeding (in November - December), the leaders do not lay claim to all the females in the flock, but only to a select few. Adult males of lower rank also find females, but from their “outer” circle.

“In the fall of 1953, a one-and-a-half-year-old female, whom we named Imo, once found a yam (sweet potato) in the sand. She dipped it in water - probably quite by accident - and washed the sand away with her paws” (M. Kawai).

Thus, little Imo marked the beginning of an unusual tradition for which the monkeys of Koshima Island are now famous.

A month later, Imo’s friend saw her manipulations with yams and water and immediately “beguiled” her cultural manners. Four months later, Imo's mother did the same. Gradually, the sisters and friends adopted the method discovered by Imo, and after four years there were already 15 monkeys washing sweet potatoes. Almost all of them were between one and three years old. Some adult five- to seven-year-old females learned a new habit from the young. But none of the males! And not because they were less smart, but simply were in different ranks than the group surrounding Imo, and therefore had little contact with the smart monkey, her family and friends.

Gradually, mothers adopted the habit of washing sweet potatoes from their children, and then they themselves taught their younger offspring, born after this method was invented. By 1962, 42 of the 59 monkeys in Imo's troop washed their sweet potatoes before eating. Only old males and females, who in 1953 (the year of invention!) were already old enough and did not communicate with mischievous youth, did not learn the new habit. But young females, having matured, from generation to generation taught their children from the first days of their lives to wash sweet potatoes.

"Later, the monkeys learned to wash sweet potatoes not only in fresh water rivers, but also in the sea. Perhaps they tasted better salted? I also observed the beginning of another tradition, deliberately teaching it to some monkeys, but others adopted it without my help. I lured several monkeys into the water with groundnuts, and after three years all the babies and young monkeys began to regularly bathe, swim, and even dive into the sea. They also learned to wash wheat grains scattered in the sand in water especially for them. First, they patiently fished out each grain from the sand. Later, having collected a full handful of sand and grains, they dipped it into water. The sand sank to the bottom, and light grains floated up. All that remained was to collect the grains from the surface of the water and eat them. By the way, this method was also discovered by Imo. As you can see, monkeys are endowed with very different abilities. Among the closest relatives of the inventive Imo, almost everyone learned this habit, but only a few of the children of the monkey Nami" (M. Kawai).

Finally, they noticed that the macaques began to walk on their hind legs! Sometimes they carry food in their hands for thirty meters to wash it. Chimpanzees are also forced to walk on two legs when carrying something in their hands. In this habit we notice new evidence of the well-known theory that it was labor that brought the monkey into humans. To free your hands for the simplest activities, you had to stand up and walk like that. This skill, in turn, gave scope and best opportunities"handicrafts". And it developed intelligence and a brain that invented new ideas for the use of hands and labor. This is how the race of pre-humans improved.

One of the most common monkeys in zoos, the first one man sent into space is the rhesus macaque. He is a frequent visitor to research laboratories. Humanity owes him the discovery of a special Rh factor, which determines the incompatibility of the blood of some spouses and has previously destroyed many children.

Rhesus, like all macaques, has a short tail and a strong, stocky build. Inhabitant of forests and rocky hills from Afghanistan to Indochina and South China. In India it is a sacred monkey.

Two more closely related species (from the rhesus subgenus): the Assamese macaque, or mountain rhesus, and the short-tailed Taiwanese rhesus - live in Assam and Taiwan, respectively.

Rhesus monkeys are brave monkeys, males are much larger and stronger than females, they cope with dogs and often attack even Himalayan bear, if he wanders into the possessions of macaques and gets too close to females with cubs. More than once they attacked unarmed people, trying to scare and drive them away with swoops, bared teeth, quick bites, rapid retreat and a new attack.

The British call Silenus the lion macaque: his tail is crowned with a small tassel, and his gray whiskers are very lush." He himself is dark brown or black. He lives in the mountainous forests in the extreme southwest of India. Silenus's closest relative is the pig macaque, or lapunder, externally He doesn’t look much like him. He doesn’t have lush sideburns, and the tail is short and disproportionately thin, straight up like a pig. The similarity is complemented by the way the Burmese subspecies of lapunder wears it with a small brush at the end of the tail, and the Germans have it (and not the strong one, like the British). ) is called the lion macaque (or macaque - both genders are used in Russian).

Lapounders live in Eastern India, Burma, Indochina and Indonesia. In some places they are taught to collect coconuts from palm trees. Usually females and young lapunders are trained, since adult males, the largest of the macaques in general, are too strong and dangerous.

The monkey climbs a palm tree and then, out of 10-40 nuts, must, according to its own judgment, choose only the mature ones. If she throws down the unripe ones, she gets hit for it. She has little strength, but the nuts are large and their stems are strong. She cannot tear them with her paws, and therefore she quickly twists the nut back and forth until almost all the fibers of the stem burst. The rest he gnaws with his teeth. She has to tinker a lot before the nut falls to the ground. The first is followed by the second, the third - as needed. Usually they let her into a tree on a leash, and when she gets down, she herself makes sure that the rope that encircles her across her stomach does not get tangled in the branches. Some monkeys collect five hundred nuts in a day!

Five more species of the macaque genus live in Asia. Tibetan, or bear, macaque (Tibet, China, Indochina) - brown, almost tailless, red-faced when it is warm, and blue-faced in the cold. It tolerates the cold easily and often wanders even in the snow. Bonnet's macaque is interesting because in South India, where there are no rhesus monkeys, it seems to replace them, occupying the same, as experts say, ecological niche. But his temperament is unlike that of a rhesus: he is timid and runs away even from a jackal. When it collects in the chopped trunks of bamboo rainwater, these macaques drink it by putting their hand inside the trunk and licking it. A closely related species lives in Ceylon. And in Indochina, Indonesia (but not Sulawesi) and the Philippines - the Javan macaque, or crabeater. In the mangroves sea coasts and in the thickets near rivers and lakes, Javan macaques hunt fish, crabs and crayfish. They swim and dive well. In Bali they are revered as sacred and taken out to the edge of the forest for them. boiled rice and other products.

There are two macaques in Sulawesi: the black or swamp macaque, which is similar in appearance to the magota, and the crested macaque, which is also called black. The crested macaque is not a real macaque, it is of a different genus. With a long muzzle and steep brow ridges, it resembles baboons and, apparently, is a transitional form to them. Thus, we finally got to the baboons, but before we talk about them, let’s get acquainted with the magot.

It is unknown when the Magots appeared on the rocks of Gibraltar. Are these the remains of the last European flocks (fossil bones of Magoths have been found in different places in Europe), or were they brought here by the Phoenicians or Romans?

At the beginning of the 8th century, the Arab commander Tariq ibn Siyad found these monkeys already in Gibraltar. In 1856, when Gibraltar came under British rule, there were 130 Magoths living there. The British governor ordered their protection by special decree. Then some disease killed all the monkeys except three. Again the governor issued an order: to bring the Magoths from North Africa and settle them in Gibraltar. The fact is that the old legend says: as soon as all the monkeys disappear from Gibraltar, the British will lose this stronghold!

Soon the monkeys became so prolific and insolent that whole gangs came down from the mountains, devastated city gardens, stole everything from houses, broke the necks of chickens, beat and bit children and women.

“When then one monkey stole the governor’s feather-decorated helmet during the holiday and, sitting with him on the battlements of the fortress in front of a large crowd of onlookers, parodied his Excellency, the cup of patience overflowed. All the monkeys from the area around the city were evicted and banished to secluded rocks. However, the order their protection remained in force" (Walter Fiedler).

The monkeys are subordinate to the War Ministry. A special officer, “responsible for the monkeys,” guards the rocks on the gunboat where the Magots live. Each monkey, and there are more than two hundred of them, is allocated maintenance: four pennies a day.

As soon as for one reason or another the number of monkeys in Gibraltar decreases, now the British, sparing no expense, bring new ones from North Africa. In 1942, for example, Churchill himself cabled the commander of British forces in Africa: “Catch some monkeys for Gibraltar immediately!” And the general sent a detachment of soldiers to catch the monkeys.

Two packs of Magoths on Gibraltar: one lives high on inaccessible cliffs - these are quite wild. But the monkeys of another troop, who settled halfway from the top of the cliff to the port, completely lost both fear and respect for people. Quickly jumping through the open windows of the car, they steal scarves, wallets and other things from the pockets of tourists and run away like an arrow. Stolen goods are torn up if they are inedible and thrown away. It is absolutely impossible to keep up with them, and even unsafe. As soon as one Magot is captured, he raises such a cry that the whole gang immediately rushes to the rescue and attacks people without fear. We have to run away, since by law it is not allowed to offend monkeys.

In the afternoon, the “monkey gunner” brings the Magots their daily ration: fruits, bread. He has served in this position for sixteen years and knows every monkey by name. Only this person is treated with respect by the Gibraltar magots.

Magots tolerate the winter cold of Central Europe well. They once lived and multiplied in Germany for twenty years. The story is like this. In 1763, Count Schlieffen brought several Magoths from North Africa and settled them in the park of his estate near Kassel, in northern Hesse. To provide shelter from the cold, huts and grottoes were built for the monkeys. For twenty years they lived and bred quite peacefully. Like faithful dogs, the whole flock accompanied the count to the borders of the estate when he left for Kassel, and waited here for his return. But then they started acting up. A cash register with money was stolen from a neighbor, another count, and hidden on the roof, in a gutter. Then one magot took the estate manager’s three-week-old child from the cradle and climbed with him onto the gable of the house. At great risk, the count's cook, a Frenchman, climbed onto the pediment and, luring the monkey with figs, saved the child.

But when the leader of the pack attacked the girl, tore her dress and pulled out her hair, the count with a heavy soul ordered to shoot all the monkeys, and there were already sixty of them. According to other sources, the cause of their rampage and death was rabies, which was brought into the flock by a dog that bit the monkeys. A monument was erected at the grave of the “Germanic” Magoths, which still exists today.

North Africa, from where the British brought the Magoths to Gibraltar, is the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and Algeria. But macaques are not found in the Sahara and further south. Baboons live there. There are eight types.

Two almost tailless and forest:

mandrill (Nigeria, Northern Cameroon) is a strangely colored monkey: on the bare face the bridge of the nose, nostrils, lips are bright red, the grooved swellings on the sides of the nose are blue. The huge bare ischial calluses are also bright red with blue edges. This is for males. Females do not have red on their muzzle, but only blue swellings;

drill (Southern Cameroon, Gabon, Congo (Brazzaville) - very similar to the mandrill, but smaller and not so bright: without blue and red on the black muzzle, only the lower lip and chin with a red tint.

Tailed baboons are inhabitants of open spaces: savannas, steppes, bushes, rocks:

gelada (mountains of Ethiopia) - almost black with a mane on the shoulders, with longitudinal grooves on the bridge of the nose, like a drill, strangely sunken cheeks, a shortened nose, bare red spots on the front of the chest. In females, the nipples are so close that the cub sucks them, taking both in his mouth;

hamadryas (rocky hills of Eastern Ethiopia, Somalia, coastal cliffs of South Arabia, and according to other sources - also Eastern Sudan), males with a lush silver-gray mane on the shoulders and back and with large red ischial calluses.

Four species of baboons that are very similar to each other: brown Guinea (steppes and shrubs of Senegal and Guinea); green, or anubis (the same landscapes, but to the east - from Niger to Ethiopia);

yellow baboon - savannas, steppes, bushes of East Africa, Rhodesia, Angola;

Chakma - the same landscapes, but further south, all the way to Cape Town.

After humans and apes, baboons are the largest of the primates (male mandrills weigh up to half a centner). And once upon a time, relatively recently, during glacial times, in South Africa lived giant baboons, almost as tall as a gorilla.

Of all the monkeys, baboons are the most dog-headed and the most non-arboreal. They spend most of their lives on the ground, looking for various roots, stirring up leaves, turning over stones: they also eat snails and insects found here. Only at night, in order to sleep in safety and to escape from enemies, they climb trees.

And the enemies they fear are few. This is, first of all, an armed man; an unarmed man does not frighten them, a lion and a leopard. They give way to elephants and rhinoceroses only at the last minute. They live in peace or neutrality with other ungulates and predators of the savannah. Among buffaloes, zebras, giraffes and antelopes they walk calmly. Jackals and hyenas are ignored. Hyena dogs are feared. A dozen or two adult males immediately act as a screen to meet their flocks, protecting the females with their young.

On the march, their formation is the same as that of Japanese macaques: in front are young males, in the center are females with cubs and leaders of the highest rank, in the rear guard are again young people led by several adult males. Sentinel detachments of males usually come from the flanks. No matter from which side the enemy appears, he is met by the strongest in the pack.

Baboons often settle near humans and rob crops and plantations. In South Africa in 1925, a bonus was given for each baboon killed. In two years, 200 thousand were shot, not counting those who died from wounds and poisons. But the number of baboons has not decreased much.

It is believed that the reason for their abundance is the decrease in the number of leopards. Those were shot even earlier both for the sake of their skins, which became fashionable, and simply as predators. And leopards are the main enemies of baboons. Thus, the centuries-old balance of nature was disrupted, and the baboons, having lost their most dangerous enemies, multiplied more than ever.

Each flock of baboons (30-40 heads, at most 100-200) roams in its own domain, the length of which is 5-15 kilometers. Watering holes are public places! - neighboring flocks of baboons converge peacefully. At some watering holes, up to four hundred monkeys gather. Youth different packs, taking the opportunity, starts games, but when the old people leave, the young ones rush after them - each in his own flock.

At first, like all monkeys, young baboons hang on their mother’s stomach, clinging to the fur, then move onto their backs. At the age of several months, the baboon is accepted into some group of young monkeys. He plays with his peers and forms lasting friendships with some, usually for life. They roam together, even if they start families, and often together they fight back against a strong and higher-ranking male.

If the kids get too naughty, they will bite someone painfully and he will scream, but now one of the adult baboons heads towards them and, having rewarded whoever should be spanked, stops the game. One young baboon somehow unsuccessfully jumped from a tree and fell into the river; the old baboon immediately rushed into the water and saved him. The leader does not tolerate fights between adults. He immediately directs his gaze- first warning. The second is usually not required. This look has some kind of telepathic power: the monkeys, even in the chaos and hubbub, immediately feel it and humbly stop fussing.

Steppe baboons - baboons - do not have real families, as well as strictly separated harems. Females are to a certain extent “common.” But the inhabitants of rocks and highlands - hamadryas - have families in which there is usually only one strong male. During the day they roam in family groups, but at night they gather in a large flock on steep cliffs. Their neighbors, the geladas, apparently behave the same way. Some researchers consider them not even baboons, but a special branch of macaques. Some morphological features of marmosets have also been observed in geladas. So the family connections of geladas with monkeys of their subfamily are not yet entirely clear.

Baboons often attack duikers, young antelopes and pigs, domestic sheep and lambs. Lambs, having bitten through their stomach, love to drink its contents (milk). All the more surprising is the case described by zoologist Dr. Hoesch. One farmer in South Africa decided to train a young Chacma baboon named Ala to herd goats. At first, Ala lived in a pen with goats and became very attached to them. When the goats went to pasture, she went with them. She protected them, drove them away from other people's herds, gathered them into a herd if they were too scattered, and in the evening brought them home. In general, he behaved like the best herding dog. Even more! She knew every goat and every kid. One day she ran home from the pasture screaming. It turned out that they forgot to kick two kids out of the pen. And Ala noticed this, although there were eighty goats in the herd!

When the little goats got tired of walking, she took them and carried them, and then gave them to their bleating mother, tucking them right under the udder. If the kid was too small, she would lift it and support it while it suckled. Ala never confused whose baby goat she gave to someone else's goat. If triplets were born and the kid was taken away to be placed with a goat with one suckling, Ala would dispose of it in her own way and return it to its mother again.

She even made sure that the goats' milk did not burn out if the kid did not suck it all out. Feeling the swollen udder, she sucked the milk herself. Such high responsibility in carrying out the work assigned to them was also noticed in other monkeys. Some chimpanzees, if the task assigned to them turned out to be beyond their strength, even suffered nervous disorders, falling into deep depression.

In zoos they observed how baboons decided on primacy in the pack without any bloodshed.

One strong hamadryas was the leader for a long time, he grew old, went bald, his lush mane was worn out and thinned. One day a young maned baboon took his place, and the old man peacefully yielded, went into the background, so to speak, and no longer claimed first place. But young people and females of lower rank still respected the old man, lovingly combing his hair and caring for his fur, as is customary among monkeys.

To another male, who was old and his teeth were dull, zoologist Heinemann decided to show a life-size picture of the grinning mouth of a hamadryas with huge fangs. As soon as the old man saw these teeth through the glass, he immediately pulled back and hid in the farthest corner of the cage, as if saying: “Don’t touch me, with such fangs, first place is yours by law!”

Baboons (as well as closely related mandrills, drills and geladas) are the largest modern primates, after the great apes. The genus of baboons (Papio) is represented by five species. They all live in Africa, and only the hamadryas’ range also extends to Asia. All baboons are formidable and aggressive monkeys. Male baboons have truly huge fangs (however, the females have them by no means small), which have the shape of a curved dagger, with grooves, which probably give the fang greater strength. Surprisingly, but true: the fangs of baboons look even more terrifying than the fangs of carnivores.
Representatives of the genus Papio are very intelligent animals. By intellectual development they come right behind the apes (and most likely gibbons). All baboons are terrestrial monkeys, spending most of their time on the ground. However, they are excellent at climbing trees and, for safety reasons, prefer to sleep on them. They feed mainly on plant food (which is obtained both on the ground and in trees), but they also eat arthropods, bird eggs and various small animals. In addition, baboons sometimes hunt small mammals, such as baby gazelles.
live large families or in packs (you can hardly call it a herd). The number of individuals in a flock can vary greatly. There is a strict hierarchy in a troop of baboons. At the head is a seasoned male, around whom there are his females and subordinate males. Females with cubs enjoy special privileges. The small cubs in the pack are also treated quite loyally. The attitude towards teenagers and young adults is very harsh.
Let's take a quick look at each of the five types of baboons individually.
Anubis baboon (Papio anubis) along with the chacma, it is the largest of the baboons. It is lower than the chakma, but looks more impressive. Partly due to the lush vegetation on the head and front of the body, but not as long as that of the hamadryas. In my opinion, the anubis, together with the Guinea baboon, is one of the most beautiful representatives of its genus, but much more impressive and, I would say, majestic. Its coat color is greenish, which is why it is sometimes called the olive or green baboon. The weight of anubis can reach about 30 kg, and I cannot say for sure who is heavier, anubis or chacma.
This is the most widespread species of baboons. Its range covers 25 African countries, stretching from Mali to Ethiopia and Tanzania.
Yellow baboon or baboon (Papio cynocephalus) a relatively small baboon. The color of the coat, as the name suggests, is yellowish. Distributed in East Africa, from Kenya and Tanzania to Zimbabwe and Botswana.
Hamadryas (Papio hamadryas)– a frequent visitor to zoos, but in nature it is quite rare species. The coat color is light, especially in mature males. The fur, which is longer than that of other types of baboons, forms a lush mantle in males. live in large groups, which can number up to about two hundred animals.
Distributed in North Africa. Part of the hamadryas' range also extends to Asia.
Guinea baboon or sphinx (Papio papio)- a very cute representative of the baboon family. It has short fur of a pleasant reddish-yellow hue, due to which it is sometimes called the red baboon. Distributed in West Africa: in Guinea, Gambia, Senegal, southern Mauritania and western Mali.
Chacma or bear baboon (Papio ursinus) considered the largest of the baboons. The weight of males reaches 30 kg or more. Their muzzle is very elongated, their limbs are longer than those of other types of baboons.