Check out out this interesting article by Bruce Arnott: The Incredible Eyesight of Baboons

Bruce Arnott

A young baboon rides its mother’s back and looks in my direction. The tail of the mother is positioned in such a way that it becomes a seat for the youngster. Young baboons will often ride their mother’s backs or cling onto the chest as the troop moves to feeding grounds or back to their roosts in the evening. Here, in the morning light, the baboons were just getting active for the day and moving to areas to forage for the day.

Baboons are often first to spot a predator in the area. For one, they have the ability to climb to the canopies of trees and sit there as lookouts for the rest of the troop; watch duty is usually performed by the males. Without getting into the science of their vision just yet, all it takes is to be there watching them as they alarm call at a threat like a lion or leopard walking extremely far away. I have been sitting in my vehicle watching baboons in a tree as they alarm at a leopard hundreds of meters away, further than we could certainly see… I knew this because other guides and guests were watching that leopard!

Bruce Arnott

A female baboon quickly glances coyly at the camera.

When a baboon sees a predator it lets out a loud, distinctive bark. They are intelligent animals and usually alarm call when a ‘real’ threat is around. Impalas, among others, are sometimes spooked by a warthog or a solitary duiker moving through the bush and alarm call as if it were a predator. Baboons, however, are one of the more reliable helpers when tracking the large cats!

Bruce Arnott

Here a large male baboon, the largest of the troop and most likely the dominant male, sat gazing over the troop and the land they were foraging in. One can clearly see a recent wound on his cheek, quite possibly caused by a rival.

Baboons have colour vision. Most mammals are dichromats, which means they have two types of functioning colour receptors – or cone cells – in their eyes. Primates are trichromatic, meaning that they possess three channels for conveying colour information. Baboons therefore see a wider variety of colours than most other mammals do. They need this vision to source the ripened fruits on a tree and to notice the pink colour of the rump of a female who is ready to mate. Humans are also trichromatic and see colour like the baboons (which I hope you’ve noticed!).

Bruce Arnott

The swollen rump of a female who is ready to mate. At the moment I took this photo a male was following a few feet behind.

As I mentioned earlier, baboon troops will often have watchmen or sentries to look out for danger while the others are foraging. These lookouts will position themselves high up in the branches of a tree, on a termite mound or on any other structure available to them. When danger is spotted, the alarm is sounded and the others are alerted to the presence thereof. The troop may scatter and seek refuge in a tall tree. Once the predator’s cover is blown it will most likely move on without trying to hunt in that area, leaving the baboons safe yet again.

Bruce Arnott

The baboon’s piercing eyes hold emotion and tell a story; this is an animal which displays intelligence beyond many others in the bush.

Bruce Arnott

Baboons are incredibly resourceful and vigilant; they are a successful species in the bush and are very interesting to watch. They are also highly protective over each other and stick together in a tight-knit troop. If a leopard attacks a member of the troop, the rest of the group can be ferocious in their defence and attack or even sometimes kill the leopard in response.

There is a bit of a love-hate relationship with baboons at Londolozi, as they are naughty creatures, never passing up the opportunity for a free meal and often passing through the camps in an attempt to see what’s available on the buffet. We regularly have to chase them away, so over time they have become wary of humans. It can therefore be tricky to get a really great sighting of them from close up, since they will tend to move to what they consider a safe distance if we look like approaching them in the Land Rover.