Abstract
Longitudinal data from a population of yellow baboons,Papio cynocephalus, in the Amboseli National Park, Kenya, provide life history parameter estimates. Females reached menarche at approximately four-and-a-half years of age and then cycled for approximately a year before first conception. Postpartum anestrum averaged 12 months but ranged from six to 16 months. In cases of still births or infant death during postpartum amenorrhea, females commenced cycling after approximately one month. In mature females the time spent cycling before conception was five months on the average with a range from one to over 18 months. Only half of all full-term pregnancies resulted in infants who survived the first year of life; only a third, in infants who survived until the birth of their mother’s next infant. In comparison with data from laboratory colonies, our data indicate that female baboons in Amboseli are older at birth of first infant. They have, on the average, a somewhat shorter interbirth interval than was estimated from earlier crossectional field data, and therefore spend a larger portion of their adult life pregnant, but have a much longer interval—at least three years on the average—between the birth of an infant and the birth of that infant’s next older surviving sibling. A number of morphological changes in immature baboons are described.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Altmann, S. A., 1970. The pregnancy sign in savannah baboons.Lab. Anim. Dig., 6: 7–10.
———— &J. Altmann, 1970.Baboon Ecology: African Field Research, Bibliotheca Primatologica, No. 12, University of Chicago Press, Chicago & S. Karger, Basel.
———— &S. S. Wagner, 1970. Estimating rates of behavior from Hansen frequencies.Primates, 11: 181–183.
Barker, R. G. &P. V. Gump, 1964.Big School, Small School. Stanford University Press, Stanford.
Buss, D. H., 1968. Gross composition and variation of the components of baboon milk during natural lactation.J. Nutr., 96: 421–426.
———— &O. M. Reed, 1970. Lactation of baboons fed a low protein maintenance diet.Lab. Animal Care, 20: 709–712.
Cohen, J. E., 1969. Natural primate troops and a stochastic population model.Amer. Nat., 103: 455–477.
————, 1972. Markov population processes as models of primate social and population dynamics.Theo. Pop. Biol., 3: 119–134.
Cole, L. C., 1954. The population consequences of life history phenomena.Quart. Rev. Biol., 29: 103–137.
Coleman, J., 1974.Youth: Transition to Adulthood. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Cox, D. R., 1972. Regression models and life tables.J. Roy. Stat. Soc., B, 34: 187–220.
DeVore, I., 1962. The social behavior and organization of baboon troops. Doctoral dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago.
———— (ed.), 1965.Primate Behavior: Field Studies of Monkeys and Apes. Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, N.Y.
Frisch, R. E. &R. Revelle, 1970. Height and weight at menarche and a hypothesis of critical body weights and adolescent events.Science, 169: 397–399.
Gilbert, C. &J. Gillman, 1956. The changing pattern of food intake and appetite during the menstrual cycle of the baboon (Papio ursinus) with a consideration of some of the controlling endocrine factors.S. Afr. J. Med. Sci., 21: 75–88.
———— &J. Gillman, 1960. Puberty in the baboon (P. ursinus) in relation to age and body weight.S. Afr. J. Med. Sci., 25: 98–103.
Gillman, J. 1951. Pregnancy in the baboon (P. ursinus).S. Afr. J. Med. Sci., 16: 115–124.
———— &C. Gilbert, 1946. The reproductive cycle of the chacma baboon (Papio ursinus) with special reference to the problems of menstrual irregularities as assessed by the behaviour of the sex skin.S. Afr. J. Med. Sci., 11: 1–54 (Biol. Suppl.)
———— & ————, 1956. Menstrual disorders induced in the baboon (Papio ursinus) by diet with a consideration of the endocrine factors underlying the menstrual disorders and the body weight changes.S. Afr. J. Med. Sci., 21: 89–120.
Hall, K. R. L., 1965. Ecology and behavior of baboons, patas, and vervet monkeys in Uganda. In:The Baboon in Medical Research,H. Vagtborg (ed.), Univ. of Texas, Austin, pp. 43–61.
Hausfater, G., 1975. Dominance and reproduction in baboons (Papio cynocephalus). A quantitative analysis. Ph. D. dissertation, Univ. of Chicago [Contrib. Primatol. No. 7]
Hendrickx, A. G. &D. C. Kraemer, 1971.Reproductive Embryology of the Baboon. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Jain, A. K., T. C. Hsu, R. Freedman, &M. C. Chang, 1970. Demographic aspects of lactation and post partum amenorrhea.Demography, 7: 255–271.
Kaplan, E. L. &P. Meier, 1958. Nonparametric estimations from incomplete observations.Amer. Stat. Assoc. J., 53: 457–481.
Konner, M. J., 1972. Aspects of the developmental ethology of a foraging people. In:Ethological Studies of Child Behavior,N. Blurton Jones (ed.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Kriewaldt, F. H. &A. G. Hendrickx, 1968. Reproductive parameters of the baboon.Lab. Anim. Care, 18: 361–370.
Kummer, H., 1968.Social Organization of Hamadryas Baboons. A Field Study. Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Ransom, T. W. &T. E. Rowell, 1972. Early social development of feral baboons. In:Primate Socialization,F. E. Poirier (ed.), Random House, N.Y.
Reed, O. M., 1965. Studies of the dentition and eruption patterns in the San Antonio baboon colony. In:The Baboon in Medical Research,Vagtborg (ed.), pp. 167–180.
Rowell, T. E., 1966. Forest living baboons in Uganda.J. Zool., 147: 344–364.
Sade, D. S., 1972. A longitudinal study of social behavior of rhesus. In:The Functional and Evolutionary Biology of Primates,R. H. Tuttle (ed.), Aldine-Atherton, Chicago.
Sadlier, R. M. F. S., 1969.The Ecology of Reproduction in Wild and Domestic Mammals. Methuen & Co. Ltd., London.
Skolnick, M. H., 1972. Natural regulation of numbers in primitive human populations.Nature, 239: 287–288.
Snow, C. C., 1967a. Some observations on the growth and development of the baboon. In:The Baboon in Medical Research, Vol. 2,H. Vagtborg (ed.), Univ. of Texas, Austin, pp. 187–199.
----, 1967b. The physical growth and development of the open-land baboon,Papio doguera. Doctoral dissertation, Univ. of Arizona, 209 p.
Stoltz, L. P. &G. S. Saayman, 1970. Ecology and behaviour of baboons in the Northern Transvaal.Annals of the Transvaal Museum, 26: 99–143.
Strum, S., 1975. Life of a baboon troop.National Geographic, 147: 672–692.
Struhsaker, T. T., 1973. A recensus of vervet monkeys in the Masai-Amboseli Game Reserve, Kenya.Ecology, 54: 930–932.
van Wagenen, G., 1972. Vital statistics from a breeding colony.J. Med. Prim., 1: 3–28.
Western, D. &C. van Praet, 1973. Cyclical changes in the habitat and climate of an East African ecosystem.Nature, 241: 104–106.
Yamada, M., 1963. A study of blood-relationship in the natural society of the Japanese macaque.Primates, 4: 43–65.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
About this article
Cite this article
Altmann, J., Altmann, S.A., Hausfater, G. et al. Life history of yellow baboons: Physical development, reproductive parameters, and infant mortality. Primates 18, 315–330 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02383111
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02383111