Mammals

Baboon

Papio · also called baboons

Least Concern → omnivore Savanna & grassland Temperate grassland Mountains

A baboon is a monkey that came down out of the trees and made a living on the open ground of Africa, walking on all fours across the savanna with its tail held in a distinctive kinked arch. It lives in large troops run on grooming, alliances, and long-remembered friendships, and it is one of the very few primates that has done well out of farms and towns — usually to the fury of the people it shares them with.

Overview

Baboons are the genus Papio, five or six species of large ground-living Old World monkeys across sub-Saharan Africa and into Arabia — the olive, yellow, chacma, and Guinea baboons of savanna woodland, and the hamadryas baboon of the dry Horn of Africa. They are among the most omnivorous of primates, eating grass, roots, tubers, fruit, insects, shellfish, eggs, and animals up to the size of a young antelope.

Troops and politics

Most baboons live in troops of 20 to 150, built around related females with males joining from outside. Troop life is intensely social and political — dominance ranks, grooming, coalitions — and females with stronger social bonds raise more surviving young. The hamadryas baboon is the exception: males hold small harems, which nest into clans, bands, and cliff-sleeping troops of hundreds, a layered society unlike any other baboon.

Living with people

Baboons take readily to farmland, villages, dumps, and city edges, where troops raid crops, break into houses and cars, and can turn bold and aggressive — making them one of the primates most often in conflict with people. The hamadryas baboon was sacred in ancient Egypt, tied to the god Thoth.

Status

Least Concern — common, adaptable, and widely treated as a crop pest, which does not threaten the species. Only the Guinea baboon of West Africa is Near Threatened.

Baboon: common questions

Are baboons monkeys or apes?

Baboons are monkeys, specifically large Old World monkeys in the same broad group as macaques, mangabeys, and the mandrill. They are not apes, since they have a tail, a narrower chest, and a different shoulder and skull, and they walk on all fours rather than swinging or knuckle-walking. The confusion comes from their size, their ground-living habits, and their dog-like faces, which make them look less like the small tree monkeys people picture. A big male chacma baboon can weigh over 40 kilograms, as much as a small adult human, but it is still a monkey.

Are baboons dangerous to people?

Baboons normally avoid people, but they can be dangerous, especially where they have lost their fear through being fed or through raiding farms and towns. A large male has canine teeth longer than a lion's and immense strength for his size, and habituated baboons will threaten, chase, and occasionally bite people to get food, break into houses and vehicles, and injure dogs and livestock. Serious attacks happen but are uncommon, and they almost always involve food and bold, human-habituated animals rather than wild troops in natural habitat.

Why do baboons have such colourful or bare bottoms?

The bare patches of thick skin on a baboon's rump are ischial callosities, hard sitting pads that let the animal sleep sitting upright on a thin branch or a narrow ledge without losing circulation. In females of several species the surrounding skin swells and turns bright pink or red when they are fertile, a clear signal to males of the best time to mate, and the size of the swelling can influence how hard males compete for her. In males, a bright rump and face can also signal rank and condition.

What do baboons do at night?

Baboons are active by day and spend the night in safe refuges, either high in tall trees or, for the hamadryas and chacma, on steep cliff faces and rocky ledges. They travel to these sleeping sites in the late afternoon, often the same ones night after night, and leave after sunrise. Choosing a good sleeping site is a matter of survival, because their main predators, leopards in particular, hunt in the dark, and a troop caught on the ground after nightfall is very vulnerable. Much of a baboon's day is a loop out from and back to the sleeping cliff or grove.

Sources & further reading

Written by HideShark Editorial Team · reviewed by HideShark Science Desk. Published September 11, 2026. Last updated September 11, 2026.

Quick facts

Scientific name: Papio
Diet: One of the most omnivorous of all primates, eating grasses and their seeds and roots, fruit, flowers, bulbs, tubers dug from the ground, tree gum, insects, shellfish, birds' eggs and nestlings, and small vertebrates including hares and young antelope, which troops sometimes catch and eat cooperatively
Five or six species: Baboons are the genus Papio, with five or six species across sub-Saharan Africa and into Arabia, including the olive, yellow, chacma, and Guinea baboons of the savanna woodlands and the hamadryas baboon of the dry Horn of Africa and southwest Arabia, all interbreeding where their ranges meet
Life on the ground: Baboons are among the most terrestrial of monkeys, walking on all fours across open country with the tail carried in a distinctive arch that kinks sharply near the base, and climbing trees or cliffs mainly to sleep out of reach of lions, leopards, and hyenas
Troops built on politics: Most baboons live in troops of 20 to 150 with a core of related females and a shifting set of immigrant males, and troop life is intensely political, built on dominance ranks, grooming, alliances, and long-term bonds, with females that keep stronger friendships raising more surviving young
The hamadryas exception: The hamadryas baboon has a different society, in which a single male keeps a small harem of females that he herds and disciplines, several harems band into a clan, clans gather into bands, and bands come together into sleeping troops of hundreds on the cliffs, a nested structure more like some human societies than like other baboons
Sacred to ancient Egypt: The hamadryas baboon was sacred in ancient Egypt, linked to Thoth, the god of writing and wisdom, and to the sun, and baboons were kept, mummified in large numbers, and shown in art with their hands raised at dawn
Living with people: Baboons adapt readily to farmland, villages, rubbish dumps, tourist lodges, and city edges, where troops raid crops and bins, break into buildings and cars, and can become bold and aggressive, making them one of the primates most often in conflict with people
Range: Sub-Saharan Africa in almost every habitat except dense rainforest and true desert, from savanna, open woodland, and grassland to rocky hills, mountains, semi-desert, and forest edge, plus the hamadryas baboon across the Red Sea in the hills of Yemen and Saudi Arabia, and troops living around farms, villages, and towns throughout the range.
Conservation status: Least Concern → ≈ Baboons as a group are common, widespread, and in no danger, and most species are assessed as Least Concern with stable populations, helped by their broad diet, adaptability, and tolerance of disturbed and farmed land. They are widely regarded as agricultural pests and are shot, trapped, and poisoned in large numbers around farms, and they are hunted for meat and killed on roads, but none of this threatens the species overall. The exception is the Guinea baboon of West Africa, which has a smaller range, is declining through habitat loss and hunting, and is listed as Near Threatened in the wild