Feeding Ecology, Food Availability and Ranging Patterns of Wild Hamadryas Baboons at Filoha

Most hamadryas baboons rely on Acacia species for subsistence in their semidesert habitats. Unlike other hamadryas sites, palm forests at Filoha in Awash National Park, Ethiopia, provide the baboons with a preferred food resource close to a commonly used sleeping site. The baboons are expected to feed on doum palm trees when fruit is available, and this resource use should play a role in ranging patterns. This paper describes the feeding ecology, food availability and ranging patterns of a band of wild hamadryas baboons at Filoha from March 2005 to February 2006. Data on feeding and ranging behavior derive from band scans during all-day follows of baboons, and data on food availability derive from monthly phenological monitoring of frequently consumed food species. The baboons fed predominantly on palms when fruit was available, and preferred the flowers of Acacia senegal to its leaves. There was no relationship between daily path length and the proportion of palm fruit in the baboons' diet, but changes in the availability of fruit across the Filoha region appear to mirror the baboons' shifting use of its home range. The large band sizes at Filoha may obscure the effects doum palm fruit might have on ranging patterns.