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In captivity, the managers of primate populations have removed individuals from their groups for medical and social reasons, but there has been little documentation regarding the consequences of th...

When members of a group differ in locomotor capacity, coordinating collective movement poses a challenge: some individuals may have to move faster (or slower) than their preferred speed to remain together. Such compromises have energetic repercussions, yet research in collective behaviour has largely neglected locomotor consensus costs. Here, we integrate high-resolution tracking of wild baboon locomotion and movement with simulations to demonstrate that size-based variation in locomotor capacity poses an obstacle to the collective movement. While all baboons modulate their gait and move-pause dynamics during collective movement, the costs of maintaining cohesion are disproportionately borne by smaller group members. Although consensus costs are not distributed equally, all group-mates do make locomotor compromises, suggesting a shared decision-making process drives the pace of collective movement in this highly despotic species. These results highlight the importance of considering how social dynamics and locomotor capacity interact to shape the movement ecology of group-living species.

Nonhuman primates are an essential part of tropical biodiversity and play key roles in many ecosystem functions, processes, and services. However, the impact of climate variability on nonhuman primates, whether anthropogenic or otherwise, remains poorly understood. In this study, we utilized age-structured matrix population models to assess the population viability and demographic variability of a population of geladas (Theropithecus gelada) in the Simien Mountains, Ethiopia with the aim of revealing any underlying climatic influences. Using data from 2008 to 2019 we calculated annual, time-averaged, and stochastic population growth rates (λ) and investigated relationships between vital rate variability and monthly cumulative rainfall and mean temperature. Our results showed that under the prevailing environmental conditions, the population will increase (λ s = 1.021). Significant effects from rainfall and/or temperature variability were widely detected across vital rates; only the first year of infant survival and the individual years of juvenile survival were definitively unaffected. Generally, the higher temperature in the hot-dry season led to lower survival and higher fecundity, while higher rainfall in the hot-dry season led to increased survival and fecundity. Overall, these results provide evidence of greater effects of climate variability across a wider range of vital rates than those found in previous primate demography studies. This highlights that although primates have often shown substantial resilience to the direct effects of climate change, their vulnerability may vary with habitat type and across populations. ispartof: ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION vol:12 issue:3 ispartof: location:England status: published

International audience; Objective: Although extant nonhuman primates are not habitual bipeds, they are able to walk bipedally from an early age. In humans, children improve their walking skills through developmental processes and learning experience. In nonhuman primates, infants do not routinely experience bipedalism and their musculoskeletal system gradually specializes for other locomotor modes. The aim of this study is to explore the development of occasional bipedal walking in olive baboon and to test whether the postural adjustments change with age.Materials and Methods: We collected kinematics and spatiotemporal parameters of bipedal gait in an ontogenetic sample of 24 baboons. Data were collected at the primatology station of the CNRS (France) and a total of 47 bipedal strides were extracted for the present analysis.Results: Adults and adolescents walk bipedally in the same way, and the average kinematic pattern is similar across the age-classes. Infants walk bipedally with longer duty factor, they present larger movement amplitude of the thigh and the amplitude of the knee joint decreases with speed. In contrast, older baboons increase the amplitude of the knee and ankle joints with speed.Discussion: In a non-adapted biped, the postural adjustments of bipedal walking vary with age. In infant baboons, the balance requirements are likely to be higher and these are solved by adopting a “blocking strategy”. In older baboons, the postural adjustments are focused on the lower limb and the movements increase with speed. These results may echo, in some respects, the developmental sequence of the intersegmental coordination described in the ontogeny of human locomotion.

Female primates signal impending ovulation with a suite of sexual signals. Studies of these signals have focussed on visual, and to a lesser extent, acoustic signals, neglecting olfactory signals. We aimed to investigate the information content of female olfactory signals in captive olive baboons (Papio anubis) and relate these to the female fertile period. We studied eight adult females living in four groups at the CNRS Station de Primatologie, Rousset-sur-Arc, France. We used vaginal cytology to detect ovulation. We investigated the volatile component of odour signals using solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. We found a total of 74 volatile compounds, of which we tentatively identified 25, including several ketones, alcohols, aldehydes, terpenes, volatile fatty acids and hydrocarbons that have been identified in odour profiles of other primates. Our results show that vaginal odour intensity differs with sexual cycle stage suggesting that odour might play a role in signalling female baboon fertility. We found differences in vaginal odour between females living in all-female and in mixed sex groups but we could not distinguish the effects of group composition, female age and identity. This study of olfactory signalling improves our understanding of how female primates advertise their sexual receptivity.

BackgroundNonhuman primates (NHPs) occupy an important place in zoonotic spill-overs, serving as either reservoirs or amplifiers of multiple neglected tropical diseases including tick-borne infections. Anaplasmosis is caused by obligate intracellular bacteria of the family Anaplasmatacae. They are transmitted by Ixodid tick species and have a wide host range including wild animals, domestic animals and humans. The aim of this study was to establish the presence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum in Olive baboons and Vervet monkeys in Laikipia County, Kenya.ResultsA total of 164 whole blood samples, collected by USAID Predict II project from Laikipia County, 17 Kenya, were included in the study. These comprised of 146 samples from Olive baboons (Papio anubis) and 18 from Vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) respectively from Mpala Research Center and Ol jogi Conservancy in Laikipia County. Using conventional Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), positive results for A. phagocytophilum in 26 Olive baboons and 4 Vervet monkeys were detected with primer sets EHR16SD/R. However, low sensitivity was observed with the p44 gene. The amplification of DNA template with the primer set p44 (p3709 5/ p4257 23 5) using nested PCR could not be obtained. Our results revealed the presence of A. phagocytophilum in Olive baboons and Vervet monkeys. This study found an overall prevalence of 18.3% for Anaplasma phagocytophilum. A distinct genotype of A. phagocytophilum was detected that was different from the others in the gene bank database.ConclusionThis study provides valuable information on the presence of A. phagocytophilum bacteria in Olive baboons and Vervet monkeys in Kenya. It indicates a need for future research to establish the public health implications of zoonotic A. phagocytophilum isolates and the role of nonhuman primates as reservoirs.

Adverse experiences during early life exert important effects on development, health, reproduction, and social bonds, with consequences often persisting across generations. A mother’s early life experiences can impact her offspring’s development through a number of pathways, such as maternal care, physiological signaling through glucocorticoids, or even intergenerational effects like epigenetic inheritance. Early life adversity in female yellow baboons (Papio cynocephalus) predicts elevated glucocorticoids, reduced sociality, shortened lifespan, and higher offspring mortality. If baboon mothers with more early life adversity, experience poorer condition and struggle to provide for their offspring, this could contribute to the persisting transgenerational effects of adversity. Here, we examined the effects of mothers’ early life adversity on their maternal effort, physiology, and offspring survivability in a population of olive baboons, Papio anubis. Mothers who experienced more adversity in their own early development exerted greater maternal effort (i.e., spent more time nursing and carrying) and had higher levels of glucocorticoid metabolites than mothers with less early life adversity. Offspring of mothers with more early life adversity had reduced survivability compared to offspring of mothers with less early life adversity. There was no evidence that high maternal social rank buffered the effects of early life adversity. Our data suggest early life experiences can have lasting consequences on maternal effort and physiology, which may function as proximate mechanisms for intergenerational effects of maternal experience. Animals exposed to early life adversity experience both immediate and lasting consequences. If early life adversity exerts developmental constraints that affect a mother’s ability to provide for her offspring, this could explain the transgenerational effects of early life adversity. In our study of wild olive baboons, we examined how a mother’s own early life adversity predicts her maternal effort (i.e., nursing and carrying time), maternal fecal glucocorticoid levels, and offspring outcomes. We found that female baboons who experienced more early life adversity had higher glucocorticoid levels during pregnancy and lactation, exerted more maternal effort, and produced offspring with higher mortality risk than females with less early life adversity. Our results suggest that female baboons with more early life adversity experience developmental constraints and struggle to invest in offspring, which likely contributes to persisting effects of early life adversity across generations.

Copulation calls are mating-associated vocalizations that are common in primates, with females vocalizing after copulation in several Old World monkeys and apes. Baboon females typically produce copulation calls that correlate with fertile phase. Calls are, thus, regarded as an upshot of cycle physiology and sexually selected calls. Here, we describe three captive troops of olive baboons wherein, against expectation, females suppressed vocalizing during copulations. Vaginal cytology, together with sexual swelling observations, confirmed that females experienced full receptive cycles. Ovulation did not affect vocal probability during sex, while copulation calls were predicted by male ejaculation just as in other Old World primate species. Results cast doubt on the existence of physiological triggers for baboon copulation calls. Social factors may instead play a larger role. Alterations in social structure (as typically observed in the wild) may be implemented strategically as captive enrichment in order to reveal how females in highly social primates change sexual strategies and, therefore, the use of their copulation calls.

Objective: the aim was to identify what is learned or instinctive in the breastfeeding of non-human primates.Material and Method: a prospective observational study was conducted at the primatology station of Rousset sur Arc (CNRS) between May and July 2019 corresponding to 58 hours of observations. It included 12 pairs of Baboon Olive motherchild between the ages of 0 and 45 days. In this work, the quality of breastfeeding was evaluated thanks to the duration of suckings, the maintenance of the infant by the mother, the number of stalls of the new-born during sucking. Parity and age of the infant were used as a proxy for the mothers' experience. The ANOVA method was used for the statistical analyses. To assess the significance of the various correlations studied, a significance threshold was defined by a p

In nonhuman primates pathogens are known to exert a profound and pervasive cost on various aspects of their sociality and reproduction. In olive baboons (Papio anubis) at Lake Manyara National Park, genital skin ulcers caused byTreponema pallidumsubsp.pertenuelead to mating avoidance in females and altered mating patterns at a pre-copulatory and copulatory level. Beyond this level, sexual behavior comprises also post-copulatory interactions among the sexual partners. To investigate whether the presence of genital skin ulcers has an impact at the post-copulatory level, we analyzed 517 copulation events of 32 cycling females and 29 males. The occurrence of post-copulatory behaviors (i.e., copulation calls, darting [female rapid withdraw from the male] and post-copulatory grooming) was not altered by the presence of genital skin ulcerations. Similarly to other baboon populations, females of our group were more likely to utter copulation calls after ejaculatory copulation. The likelihood of darting was higher after ejaculatory copulations and with the presence of copulation calls. Post-copulatory grooming was rarely observed but when it occurred, males groomed females for longer periods when females uttered copulation calls during, or preceding mating. Our results indicate that despite the presence of conspicuous genital skin ulcers, the post-copulatory behavior was not affected by the genital health status of the dyad. This suggests that infection cues play a major role before and during mating but do not affect post-copulatory behavior.

We investigated Treponema pallidum infection in 8 nonhuman primate species (289 animals) in Tanzania during 2015-2017. We used a serologic treponemal test to detect antibodies against the bacterium. Infection was further confirmed from tissue samples of skin-ulcerated animals by 3 independent PCRs (polA, tp47, and TP_0619). Our findings indicate that T. pallidum infection is geographically widespread in Tanzania and occurs in several species (olive baboons, yellow baboons, vervet monkeys, and blue monkeys). We found the bacterium at 11 of 14 investigated geographic locations. Anogenital ulceration was the most common clinical manifestation; orofacial lesions also were observed. Molecular data show that nonhuman primates in Tanzania are most likely infected with T. pallidum subsp. pertenue-like strains, which could have implications for human yaws eradication.

Female copulation calls are species specific, distinct vocal signals sometimes given during or shortly after mating. Despite being common in primates and despite much empirical work, their function remains largely unclear for most species. Here, we used an information-theoretic approach to examine simultaneously three main competing hypotheses for the evolution of copulation calls. Two of the three hypotheses predict that female copulation calls function to incite competition between males, either directly (the male–male competition hypothesis) or indirectly (the sperm competition hypothesis), while the third predicts that females use calls to choose mating partners (the female choice hypothesis). We collected data on copulations of wild female olive baboons in Kibale National Park, Uganda, to compare the relative support for these hypotheses by modelling whether or not females produced copulation calls after mounts. Our analytical approach enabled us to objectively rank models corresponding to the three hypotheses according to how well our data fitted the models. Our data favoured the sperm competition hypothesis over the female choice hypothesis although much variation in calling remained unexplained. The male–male competition hypothesis seems unlikely given our data. We also discuss the possibility that copulation calls have no function, functions not included in our analysis, or that they are multifunctional, a reflection of the species' social evolution history.

According to socioecological theory, ecological pressures acting on females play an important role in shaping social organization, dispersal patterns and the nature of female–female relationships. However, there has been relatively little consideration of how females' relationships with males may influence the nature of females' relationships to other females. Here, we show that female olive baboons form well-differentiated relationships with adult males and these ties influence their relationships with other females. As in other species of savanna baboons, female olive baboons show pronounced preferences for close kin, but related females do not often share the same top-ranked male partners. Shared associations with males bring females into more frequent contact with distant kin and nonkin. The combined effects of bringing distantly related and unrelated females together and separating close kin reduced the extent of nepotistic biases among females in the study groups compared to female yellow baboons, Papio cynocephalus, and chacma baboons, Papio ursinus. These data suggest that selective pressures acting on both females and males may influence the nature and function of female–female relationships.

OBJECTIVES: Except for owl monkeys (Aotus spp.), all anthropoid primates are considered strictly diurnal. Recent studies leveraging new technologies have shown, however, that some diurnal anthropoids also engage in nocturnal activity. Here we examine the extent to which vervets (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) and olive baboons (Papio anubis) are active at night. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We deployed GPS collars with tri-axial accelerometer data loggers on 18 free-ranging adult females: 12 vervets spread among 5 social groups, and 6 olive baboons spread among 4 groups. Their locations were recorded every 15 min, and their activity levels, for 3 s/min over 7.5 months. We also used camera traps that were triggered by heat and movement at seven sleeping sites. RESULTS: Travel was detected on 0.4% of 2,029 vervet-nights involving 3 vervets and 1.1% of 1,109 baboon-nights involving 5 baboons. Travel was mainly arboreal for vervets but mainly terrestrial for baboons. During the night, vervets and baboons were active 13% and 15% of the time, respectively. Activity varied little throughout the night and appeared unaffected by moon phase. DISCUSSION: Our results confirm the low nocturnality of vervets and olive baboons, which we suggest is related to living near the equator with consistent 12-hr days, in contrast to other anthropoids that are more active at night. Since anthropoid primates are thought to have evolved in northern latitudes, with later dispersal to tropical latitudes, our results may have implications for understanding the evolution of anthropoid diurnality.

As the value of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology in addressing primatological questions becomes more obvious, more studies will include capturing and collaring primates, with concomitant increased risk of adverse consequences to primate subjects. Here we detail our experiences in capturing, immobilizing, and placing GPS collars on six olive baboons (Papio anubis) in four groups and 12 vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) in five groups in Kenya. We captured baboons with cage traps and vervets with box traps, immobilized them, and attached GPS collars that were to be worn for 1 year. Adverse consequences from the trapping effort included incidental death of two nonsubjects (an adult female and her dependent infant), temporary rectal prolapse in one baboon, superficial wounds on the crown of the head in two vervets, and failure to recapture/remove collars from two baboons and two vervets. Obvious negative effects from wearing collars were limited to abrasions around the neck of one vervet. A possible, and if so, serious, adverse effect was greater mortality for collared adult female vervets compared with known uncollared adult female vervets, largely due to leopard (Panthera pardus) predation. Collared animals could be more vulnerable to predation because trapping favors bolder individuals, who may also be more vulnerable to predation, or because collars could slow them down or make them more noticeable to predators. Along with recommendations made by others, we suggest that future studies diversify trapping bait to minimize the risk of rectal prolapse, avoid capturing the first individuals to enter traps, test the movement speeds of collared versus noncollared animals, include a release system on the collars to avoid retrapping failure, and publish both positive and negative effects of capturing, immobilizing, and collaring.

Caregiver responsiveness and presence of secondary attachments play a crucial role in children's socio-cognitive and emotional development, but little is known of their effect on the development of non-human primates. Here we present the results of a 16-month behavioral study conducted on 22 wild infant olive baboons (Papio anubis) at the Uaso Ngiro Baboon Project, Kenya. This is the first study to examine the effects of maternal responsiveness and secondary attachments on the development of infant social behavior in a wild primate species that does not breed cooperatively. The data track maternal responsiveness and the rates of two behavioral indicators of infant social competence-orienting toward interactions and social play-over the course of the first year of life. Maternal responsiveness decreased as infants grew older, while infant orientation toward interactions and play behavior increased. Infants with poorly responsive mothers were more likely to have secondary attachments, and infants with secondary attachments to siblings oriented more frequently to social interactions than those with secondary attachments to adult/subadult males or with no secondary attachments. These findings indicate that variation in maternal responsiveness and presence of secondary attachments can influence the development of social competence in olive baboon infants.

Background:The chewing of khat leaves (Catha edulisForsk) is widely practiced in East Africa and parts of the Middle East, where it forms a deep-rooted social and cultural function.Consumption of Khat is common among men but recently it has extended to women.Biochemical and toxicological effects of Khat on pregnancy and fetal development in lower animals has been noted. Studies on the effect of khat consumption has focused on men thus no data is available on women and especially during pregnancy. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of khat on liver and kidney functions during pregnancy using olive baboons as experimental models. Methods: Six pregnant olive baboons were randomly assigned into khat treatment group (n=3) that received 100mls of crude khat at a dose of 5 g/kg body weight/week for 8 weeks and the control group (n=3) received normal saline during the second trimester. Blood pressure, temperature and weight changes were measured weekly. Blood was collected to assay for liver and kidney function tests and liver and kidney tissues collected during necropsy for histopathological examinations. Results: The levels of aminotransferases, urea and creatinine in the khat treated group were significantly elevated compared to those in the control group. There was a decrease of body weight in the dams, fetal birth weight and levels of albumin and sodium in treatment group compared to those in the control group. Kidney and liver tissues of the baboons and their fetuses treated with khat showed necrosis, periportal fibrosis with focal degenerative changes, glomerular degeneration and infiltration with lymphocytes. Blood pressure was not significantly different between the two groups. Conclusion: The findings show that crude khat may damage the liver and kidneys and modulate the levels of liver enzymes, urea, creatinine and electrolytes essential for liver and kidney functions. Khat is not safe and its use during pregnancy should be discouraged.

The study investigated the relationship between topography, seasonal food availability and home range use by a troop of olive baboons (Papio anubis) in a dry savannah environment. Valleys were the most utilized parts of the home range in dry seasons while old boma sites were more frequently used in the wet season. Herb-layer food biomass decreased significantly in dry seasons. The flowers of both Acacia tortilis and Acacia etbaica were available only in dry seasons with valleys having the highest biomass. The biomass of Acacia nilotica seeds was higher in valleys than on other locations. Leaves of the shrub Lycium europaeum were available on all locations in the wet season but valleys had the highest biomass of this food type. Herb-layer baboon food biomass at ridge tops, slopes, valleys and old boma sites showed similar trends in productivity between seasons. Baboons tracked food along the soil catenas by feeding at ridge tops and old boma sites where foods were available during the wet season and exploiting food sources at the valleys during the dry seasons. Food availability was related to the catena effect and baboons used the catenas in the home range in a predictable manner. Resume Cette etude a cherche la relation entre la topographie, la disponibilite saisonniere de la nourriture et la frequentation du domaine vital par une troupe de babouins anubis (Papio anubis) dans un environnement de savane seche. Les vallees etaient les parties les plus frequentees du domaine vital en saison seche alors que les emplacements d'anciennes bomas etaient plus souvent utilises en saison des pluies. La biomasse de la couche d'herbes consommee diminuait significativement en saison seche. Les fleurs des Acacia tortilis et des Acacia etbaica n'etaient disponibles qu'en saison seche, quand c'etaient les vallees qui avaient la plus haute biomasse. La biomasse des graines d'Acacia nilotica etait plus elevee dans les vallees qu'ailleurs. Les feuilles de l'arbuste Lycium europaeum etaient disponibles partout en saison des pluies, mais c'etaient les vallees qui avaient la plus grande biomasse de ce type de nourriture. La biomasse de la couche herbeuse consommee par les babouins au sommet des cretes, sur les pentes, dans les vallees et sur les sites des anciennes bomas presentaient des tendances de productivite similaires selon les saisons. Les babouins recherchaient leur nourriture le long de chaines de sols en se nourrissant au sommet des cretes et sur le site des anciennes bomas ou la nourriture est disponible en saison des pluies et en exploitant les sources de nourriture dans les vallees en saison seche. La disponibilite de la nourriture etait liee a l'effet « catena » et les babouins utilisaient les catenas de leur espace vital de facon previsible.

Vocal signals often play an important role in synchronizing the activities of group members, coordinating decisions about when and where to travel, and facilitating social interactions in which there are potential conflicts of interest. Here, we show that when female olive baboons (Papio anubis) give low amplitude grunts after approaching other females, they are less likely to behave aggressively toward their partners and more likely to handle their partners' infants and interact affiliatively with them. In addition, females are more likely to grunt after they approach lower ranking females than after they approach higher ranking females and are less likely to grunt after they approach their own mothers and daughters than after they approach other females. These patterns, which are strikingly similar to patterns previously reported in chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) support the hypothesis that grunts function as signals of benign intent. Moreover, they suggest that actors' decisions about whether to grunt or remain silent are influenced by the social context, particularly their partners' likely response to their approach. Taken together, the patterning of grunts in olive and chacma baboon suggests that these vocalizations play an important in reducing uncertainty about actors' intentions and facilitate nonaggressive social interactions.

International audience; Handedness, one of the most prominent expressions of laterality, has been historically considered unique to human. This noteworthy feature relates to contralateral inter-hemispheric asymmetries in the motor hand area following the mid-portion of the central sulcus. However, within an evolutionary approach, it remains debatable whether hand preferences in nonhuman primates are associated with similar patterns of hemispheric specialization. In the present study conducted in Old world monkeys, we investigate anatomical asymmetries of the central sulcus in a sample of 86 olive baboons (Papio anubis) from in vivo T1 anatomical magnetic resonance images (MRI). Out of this sample, 35 individuals were classified as right-handed and 28 as left-handed according to their hand use responses elicited by a bimanual coordinated tube task. Here we report that the direction and degree of hand preference (left or right), as measured by this manual task, relates to and correlates with contralateral hemispheric sulcus depth asymmetry, within a mid-portion of the central sulcus. This neuroanatomical manifestation of handedness in baboons located in a region, which may correspond to the motor hand area, questions the phylogenetic origins of human handedness that may date back to their common ancestor, 25–40 millions years ago.

Predation is widely recognized as an important selective pressure on prey animals such as baboons (Papio spp.), which face high leopard (Panthera pardus) predation risk, particularly at night. Baboons regularly sleep on cliff faces and in trees at night, ostensibly to avoid such predators. Despite retreating to such "refuges," baboons are most often killed by leopards at or near their sleeping sites. Because of the challenges of studying nocturnal behavior and human-averse predators, few systematic data exist to reveal how leopard ranging near baboon sleeping sites influences baboons' selection of sites and behavior at those sites. To investigate leopard-baboon dynamics at sleeping sites we deployed GPS/VHF radio collars on six representatives of four baboon groups and four leopards during a 14-month field study in Kenya. We used locations recorded every 15 min to identify baboons' cliffside and riverine sleeping sites, the frequency and duration of leopard visits to these sites, and baboons' adjustments in site use after leopard visits. Collared leopards visited riverine sites more frequently than cliffside sites, whereas most baboon groups strongly preferred cliffside sites, suggesting that leopard visits were often due to factors other than baboon presence, and that baboons used cliffside sites to reduce their risk of leopard predation. Regardless of type, collared leopards remained near baboon-occupied sleeping sites longer than vacant ones, indicating interest in hunting baboons then. Baboons at riverine sites departed later on mornings after leopard visits. Baboon groups occasionally shared sleeping sites simultaneously, possibly reducing risk through dilution. However, they did not reduce risk by frequently changing sleeping sites, minimizing detection at sleeping sites, or after leopard visits, arriving earlier the next evening or moving to a different site. Future research should explore if baboons readily detect nocturnal leopard presence and if predation-related changes in sleeping site use have cascading ecological effects.

Long-term male-female bonds and bi-parental investment in offspring are hallmarks of human society. A key question is how these traits evolved from the polygynandrously mating multimale multifemale society that likely characterized the Pan-Homo ancestor. In all three species of savanna baboons, lactating females form strong ties (sometimes called "friendships") with one or more adult males. For yellow baboons (Papio cynocephalus) and chacma baboons (Papio ursinus), several lines of evidence suggest that these relationships are a form of male parenting effort. In olive baboons (Papio anubis), females are thought to preferentially mate with their "friends", and male-female bonds may thus function as a form of mating effort. Here, we draw on behavioral and genetic data to evaluate the factors that shape male-female relationships in a well-studied population of olive baboons. We find support for the parenting effort hypothesis in that sires have stronger bonds with their infants' mothers than do other males. These bonds sometimes persist past weaning age and, in many cases, the sire of the previous infant is still a close partner of the female when she nurses her subsequent offspring. We find that males who have the strongest bonds with females that have resumed cycling, but are not currently sexually receptive, are more likely to sire the female's next offspring but the estimate is associated with large statistical uncertainty. We also find that in over one third of the cases, a female's successive infants were sired by the same male. Thus, in olive baboons, the development of stable breeding bonds and paternal investment seem to be grounded in the formation of close ties between males and anestrous females. However, other factors such as male dominance rank also influence paternity success and may preclude stability of these bonds to the extent found in human societies.

International audience; Joint attention is a core ability of human social cognition which broadly refers to the coordination of attention with both the presence and activity of social partners. In both human and non-human primates, joint attention can be assessed from behaviour; gestures and gaze alternation between the partner and a distal object are standard behavioural manifestations of joint attention. Here we examined the acquisition of joint attention in olive baboons as a function of their individual experience of a human partner's attentional states during training regimes. Eleven olive baboons (Papio anubis) were observed during their training to perform food-requesting gestures, which occurred either by (1) a human facing them (face condition), or (2) by a human positioned in profile who never turned to them (profile condition). We found neither gestures nor gaze alternation were present at the start of the training but rather developed over the training period. Only baboons in the face condition showed an increase in the number of gaze alternations, and their gaze pattern progressively shifted to a coordinated sequence in which gazes and gestures were coordinated in time. In contrast, baboons trained by a human in profile showed significantly less coordination of gazes with gestures but still learned to request food with their gestures. These results suggest that the partner's social attention plays an important role in the acquisition of visual joint attention and, to a lesser extent, in gesture learning in baboons. Interspecific interactions appear to offer rich opportunities to manipulate and thus identify the social contexts in which socio-communicative skills develop.

Papio hamadryas papillomavirus (PhPV) 1, 2, and 3, are Alphapapillomaviruses that have been detected in Kenyan Olive baboons but the distribution is unknown. Therefore, cervical screening for PhPV1 was performed in baboons from various areas in Kenya using a nested polymerase chain reaction. The prevalence rate was 33%.

How do leaders lead? Are individuals with influence always at the front of their group? Do they initiate travel in new directions or are they first to start moving? Which attempts to initiate movement translate to leadership? In this paper we present a computational method to characterize and classify the types of leaders in movement initiation. We adapt a leadership inference framework, FLICA, to extract information about which individuals act as leaders. We then propose a framework for ranking leaders according to their position, velocity, and heading relative to the group and perform hypothesis testing of correlations between target features and leadership ranking. We use a time series of GPS positions of wild olive baboons (Papio anubis) as an application of our approach. Our results demonstrate that there is no correlation between leadership and early movement, there is negative correlation between leadership and new directions, while leadership and new area exploration are positively correlated. Thus, as an example, in baboons, our approach shows that while leaders are not the first to move, they are typically at the front and move in a new area with everybody immediately aligning in the direction of leader. Our simple scheme is flexible to be applied to other data sets and sets of traits to characterize leadership.

Background In various types of pulmonary research, pulmonary function testing (PFT) is performed to quantify the severity of lung disease. Induction of apnea and positive pressure ventilation are required for accurate PFT measurements in non-cooperative subjects. We compared two methods of apnea induction in infant olive baboons (Papio anubis). Methods Pulmonary function testing results were compared during apnea induced by hyperventilation (CO2 washout) vs. intravenous propofol (1 dose 10 mg/kg). PFT was evaluated using a hot-wire pneumotachometer incorporated within an Avea ventilator in nine 1-month-old baboons. Results Propofol induced apnea faster and more reliably. In both groups, PFT values passed the statistical equivalence test and were not significantly different (Student's t-test). There was a trend toward less data variability after propofol administration. Conclusions Intravenous propofol was non-inferior to CO2 washout for apnea induction in infant olive baboons. Propofol induced apnea faster and more reliably and yielded less variable PFT results.

Sociality confers many benefits to gregarious animals, but group-living does not come without associated costs. Social living can cause anxiety, which if prolonged can lead to stress. We investigate correlates of anxiety and stress among wild adult male olive baboons (Papio hamadryas anubis) in Gashaka-Gumti National Park, Nigeria, and present the first examination of these correlates for male baboons living in forested environments. We used rates of self-directed behaviours (SDB) to quantify anxiety, and faecal glucocorticoid (FGC) concentrations to quantify physiological stress. We first examined the relationship between SDB rates and FGC concentrations, and then examined each measure in relation to a range of variables previously linked to anxiety or stress. We found that SDB rates and FGC concentrations were not correlated with each other, nor were they related to any measure of grooming or receiving aggression. SDB rates were negatively correlated with time spent with an adult female as nearest neighbour, but were unrelated to time with another adult male as closest conspecific. FGC concentrations were unrelated to time with adult nearest neighbours of either sex. Our results add to the growing body of literature examining the psychological and physiological costs of social living among wild primates.Key words: self-directed behaviour, glucocorticoids, aggression, grooming, proximity.

In recent years there has been much interest in investigating the social structure of group living animals using social network analysis. Many studies so far have focused on the social networks of adults, often excluding younger, immature group members. This potentially may lead to a biased view of group social structure as multiple recent studies have shown that younger group members can significantly contribute to group structure. As proof of the concept, we address this issue by investigating social network structure with and without juveniles in wild olive baboons (Papio anubis) at Gashaka Gumti National Park, Nigeria. Two social networks including all independently moving individuals (i.e., excluding dependent juveniles) were created based on aggressive and grooming behaviour. We used knockout simulations based on the random removal of individuals from the network in order to investigate to what extent the exclusion of juveniles affects the resulting network structure and our interpretation of age-sex specific social roles. We found that juvenile social patterns differed from those of adults and that the exclusion of juveniles from the network significantly altered the resulting overall network structure. Moreover, the removal of juveniles from the network affected individuals in specific age-sex classes differently: for example, including juveniles in the grooming network increased network centrality of adult females while decreasing centrality of adult males. These results suggest that excluding juveniles from the analysis may not only result in a distorted picture of the overall social structure but also may mask some of the social roles of individuals belonging to different age-sex classes.