Snapshot Serengeti Talk

Monkey Business

  • chalyse by chalyse

    I wish I'd collected the 3-frame shot that prompts me to ask this question, but I think I saw 2-3 adult baboons sitting around the base of a bare-leaf tree, with 8-10 or so young/small primates moving around up in the limbs of the trees. I've read that baboons are terrestrial, but is it possible these were three parents on watch as some youngsters played in the branches?

    Or, is it more likely they were staking out a tree of vervet monkeys (the primates up in the limbs looked smaller and a different color), in hopes of dining on them? I couldn't tell with confidence at the distance they were photographed ... but wiki tells me it is possible.

    What I'm wondering is, if it was a tribe of treed Vervets with three Baboons waiting on them down below ... who is likely to win by waiting the others out?

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  • lucycawte by lucycawte moderator

    Although one of the more terrestrial primates, baboon spend alot of time in trees. With out seeing the pics its hard to tell but it sounds like they were young baboons playing with adults foraging below.

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  • chalyse by chalyse

    awesome 😄 thanks ... that is how i had categorized it. the adults on the ground seemed calm and settled, and all faced out away from the tree, more like they were on lookout rather than being focused on the movement above them. In that scenario (parents and offspring) it seemed very natural and almost like a shot of parents with kids at a playground.

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  • ajg by ajg

    chalsyse - you can actually see everything you've done. On the main screen w/ the images at the bottom is a tool bar. Click Profile. Then click Recents. It might take a while to go through - but just keep hitting the + sign to get more. Eventually you'll see it. Click on it, then you can Collect it to save it 😃

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  • chalyse by chalyse

    OMG ajg! 😄 HUGS!! ... it did take a while, but how wonderful to be able to go back and see! my memory was off about them facing away from the tree, but the species and behaviors still seem right to me ... what an awesome interface and helpful community - thanks!

    ASG0007zpu

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  • chalyse by chalyse

    lol ... and maybe frame three of the series is one of the treed primates tossing down some treats? rotfl!

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  • davidbygott by davidbygott moderator

    What you see here is a sausage tree. Its 'sausage' fruits are the large pale objects lying on ground at left. Baboons like to eat them, so several babs are sitting and eating/grooming/resting under tree while more are foraging/playing up in the tree.

    I've never seen babs take any predatory interest in vervets, during about 30 years spent in places where both occur. It may happen, but very rarely.

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