Baboon Ecology and Human Evolution

This chapter aims to stress those aspects of baboon ecology which are of the greatest help in understanding human evolution. Scavenging has been regarded as an important phase in the evolution of man's carnivorous habits. The chapter considers troop size, range, population density, and diet. The diet of baboons living in the savanna of Nairobi Park can be divided into: the vegetable foods which provide forage for them throughout the year, seasonal fruits, insects, and the live animals which they occasionally catch and eat Varied diet, social structure, and anatomy, all are important, but their meaning only becomes clear as they are seen making possible the behavior of a population. Sex differences, peripheral animals, and range—each of these has meaning only in terms of the survival of groups. The chapter emphasizes those aspects of troop life which are adaptations to life on the ground.