The nutritional content of Tana River yellow baboon (Papio cynocephalus) foods in a partially forested habitat

Abstract

Here we report the first dietary macronutrient and mineral content information for a little-studied yellow baboon group (i.e., the Mchelelo troop) at the Tana River Primate National Reserve, Kenya. We compare forest to savanna samples for this troop found in a partially forested habitat. Observations conducted between 1988 and 1992 determined our list of foods. Subsequently, flora samples, representing 56 species, were collected between April 2008 and March 2009 with nutrient content determined via standard procedures for fiber, gross energy, ash/minerals, crude protein, and crude fat/lipids. Concentrations of specific minerals (calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, zinc) were also measured. We predicted forest items would be higher in gross energy and lipids and savanna items higher in crude protein, fiber, and minerals. Our analyses support only the predicted difference in crude protein for savanna items for the overall dataset. In our examination of the top 15 foods, savanna items had significantly higher crude protein, ash, magnesium, and manganese while forest items had higher gross energy. Right-angled mixture triangles show some clustering by location but with substantial overlap in values. Our data provide further indication of the particularity and purposefulness of dietary choices made by primates. They also contribute to the broader discussions of primate nutritional ecology and are a first step towards an examination of macronutrient balancing for this group. Finally, we discuss the impact heavy reliance upon forest products by a “savanna species” may have upon competitors and forest composition. Ultimately, we show that there is still much to be learned about baboon nutrition.

Historical antecedents and recent innovations in pitheciid (titi, saki, and uakari) feeding ecology

“…Neutral detergent fiber (NDF) that includes three fiber fractions (hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin, ranked from most to least potentially digestible) is generally higher in P. pithecia foods than C. chiropotes foods. Lophocebus albigena (Wrangham et al, 1998) and Papio cynocephalus (Bentley‐Condit & Power, 2018) appear to ingest seeds and whole fruit with higher percentages of NDF by dry matter (DM) than pitheciines.…”

“… g Bentley‐Condit and Power (2018) (table 2) (seeds, N = 3 spp. ; fruit, N = 16 spp.)…”

“…Papio cynocephalus (Bentley-Condit & Power, 2018) appear to ingest seeds and whole fruit with higher percentages of NDF by dry matter (DM) than pitheciines.…”

Comparative ecology of Guinea baboons (<i>Papio papio</i>)

“…It was hypothesized that the multi-level social organization of hamadryas baboons is an adaptation to the harsh ecological conditions of their arid semi-desert habitat with its specific distribution of food resources and safe sleeping cliffs and relatively low predation pressure (Kummer, 1968b(Kummer, , 1990Dunbar, 1988;Barton, 2000). The majority of the Guinea baboon populations live under considerably different ecological condition than hamadryas baboons, yet Guinea baboons show a similar social organization as hamadryas baboons (Boese, 1975;Fischer et al, 2017). Despite pronounced differences in the habitats of hamadryas and Guinea baboons, it ap-pears that the multi-level social organization of both species is functional in different habitats.…”

“…Guinea baboons are characterized by female-biased dispersal (Kopp et al, 2015) and share this trait and their multi-level social organization (Fig. 1) with hamadryas baboons, which occur in north-east Africa and the south-western Arabian Peninsula (Kummer, 1968a;Boese, 1975;Sharman, 1981;Hapke et al, 2001;Schreier and Swedell, 2009;Städele et al, 2015;Fischer et al, 2017;Jolly, 2020). In contrast, the other four baboon species (chacma, yellow, olive, and Kinda baboons) live in uni-level social groups (Fig.…”