Meat eating in wild hamadryas baboons: Opportunistic trade‐offs between insects and vertebrates

Abstract

The consumption of meat may provide herbivorous animals with important nutrients that are scarce in their plant-based diet. Seasonal variation in plant food availability has been suggested to motivate dietary flexibility in a range of species and thus primates may seek more prey when key plant resources are unavailable.Alternatively, prey encounter rate may drive meat eating. Here we investigate patterns of meat eating in hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas) at Filoha, Awash National Park, Ethiopia. The Filoha baboons rely largely on doum palm fruit (Hyphaene thebaica), which are available most months of the year, and the young leaves of Acacia senegal, which are more abundant during the wet season. We hypothesized that the baboons would consume more meat when H. thebaica and A. senegal were less available, which we tested by comparing meat eating and consumption of these plant food species from March 2005 through February 2006. Our results reveal a high rate of vertebrate meat eating at Filoha (0.028/hour of observation) compared with other hamadryas sites. We found no relationship, however, between meat eating (either insect or vertebrate) and either rainfall or consumption of H. thebaica or A. senegal, indicating that availability of preferred plant resources does not drive meat consumption. Vertebrate consumption and time spent feeding were significantly negatively associated; there was no relationship, however, between the consumption of animal matter and either home range size or daily path length. Vertebrate and insect consumption alternated throughout the year such that the baboons maintained a small amount of animal matter in their diet year-round. Our results suggest that the baboons do not often actively seek animal matter, but consume it opportunistically, with the presence of locust and dragonfly swarms driving insect consumption, and both prey availability and the availability of feeding time shaping vertebrate predation.

Sepsis and the evolution of human increased sensitivity to lipopolysaccharide

“…The resulting low level endotoxemia (circulating LPS) triggers immune responses to infection, including activating white blood cells (neutrophils and monocytes), increasing the expression of TLRs that detect bacterial cell wall molecules and heightening levels of circulating inflammatory proteins 152,153 . Though other nonape primate species opportunistically consume some meat, they do so at levels that many intersect with some ape species, but are much lower than most humans 154,155 . There is a small body of data that suggests that common chimpanzees, which eat varying amounts of meat but considerably less than many humans, are just as sensitive to LPS as humans are 99,142,156,157 .…”

Investigating factors of metabolic bone disease in baboons (Papio spp.) using museum collections

“…It is unclear from behavioral observations if baboons prefer certain body parts or organs to others, since prey taxonomy is usually the only information reported for baboon meat consumption. However, Rhine et al ( 1986 ) observed eggs being consumed by P. cynocephalus at Mukumi National Park, which may indicate a prominent dietary source of vitamin D. Finally, insects are sometimes included in baboon diets, as observed in locust and dragonfly consumption by P. cynocephalus and P. hamadryas troops (Rhine et al, 1986 ; Schreier et al, 2019 ). Locusts, along with a subset of other insect taxa, have an especially high vitamin D 3 content for body size (Oonincx et al, 2010 ).…”

“…Meat eating is known in most of the baboon species at sites across Africa (Goffe & Fischer, 2016;Morris & Goodall, 1977;Rhine et al, 1986;Schreier et al, 2019). It is unclear from behavioral observations if baboons prefer certain body parts or organs to others, since prey taxonomy is usually the only information reported for baboon et al, 1986;Schreier et al, 2019). Locusts, along with a subset of other insect taxa, have an especially high vitamin D 3 content for body size (Oonincx et al, 2010).…”

Vertebrate Predation and Tool-Aided Capture of Prey by Savannah Wild Capuchin Monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus)

“…Olive baboons (Papio anubis) prey upon at least 3 species of primates, 10 ungulates, 4 rodents, 3 hares, 1 bat, 4 herpetofauna and 6 species of bird (Strum 1975;Sommer et al 2016). Hamadryas baboons (P. hamadryas) can present a vertebrate predation rate of 2.8/100 hours of observation, preying on dik dik (Madoqua kirki), hares, Guinea fowl, among other preys (Schreier et al 2019). Yellow baboons (P. cynocephalus) hunt lizards, birds, and gazelles (Hausfater 1976; Rhine 1986).…”