Picture Courtesy of Doug Janson
The hamadryas baboons engage in sexual behavior through out the year. Most of the sexual behavior takes place on the sleeping rock. “ True copulation among hamadryas baboons consists of a series of mounting occurring at intervals of three to eight minutes; the ejaculation occurs after several such mounting( Kummer 1968).” Copulation occurs when female hamadryas baboons have swelling red bottoms. The average gestation period for the hamadryas baboon is around 170 days ( Zuckerman 1953). After several months of observation at Erer Gota, Kummer was able to determine that females have synchronized menstrual cycle and they also synchronize their estrus cycles. The hamadryas baboons have two increased periods of fertility and birth periods that occurs between May and June, and October and December.
As noted above, the hamadryas baboon engage in the social behavior of grooming. Social grooming has widely assumed to be an indicator of an advanced and friendly relationship among non-human primates (Stammbach and Kummer. 1982). Kummer notes of all the social activities, mutual grooming take up the largest amount of an adult baboon’s time( Kummer 1968). Grooming can is an activity the hamadryas baboons are continuously engaged in through out the day. . A baboon may groom another for inter-change of a benefit( Lienfelder et al. 2001). Kummer notes that grooming behavior occurs when an animal lays in front of the other and gently presents his side or her ( Kummer 1968). Grooming may also occur if one hamadryas baboon pull another hamadryas baboon by the hair. In their study of grooming which involved six hamadryas baboons in captivity, Stammbach and Kummer note that grooming in hamadryas baboons entailed an individual contribution where one baboon (actor) gives service and there is a recipient baboon ( Stammbach and Kummer 1982). In the hamadryas baboons, grooming is often direct toward the one male unit leader; however, the females may groom sub-adult males followers. Female grooming is rarely seen in the wild; however, in captivity female engage in grooming behavior.
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This Page was created by Stella Kenyi, stkenyi@davidson.edu, as student website for Biology 323, Animal Behavior, At Davidson College