When two baboon troops go to war
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headline:
When two baboon troops go to war
By Matt Walker
Editor, Earth News
Mass brawl
Two troops of baboons have been filmed going to war, with hundreds of
monkeys entering into a pitched battle.
The fight, filmed by the BBC Natural History Unit, appears to be
triggered by male baboons attempting to steal females from the harems
of rivals.
Usually, the two troops live relatively peacefully alongside one
another on a 1km-long cliff in the Awash National Park in Ethiopia.
But they violently clash in a sequence broadcast as part of the series
Life.
"The scale of the fight and the way the males are so dominant is just
unparalleled in primate society," says Miss Rosie Thomas, a member of
the Life production team who filmed the sequence.
Baboons are one of the most aggressive primates out there
Scientists have identified four levels at which baboons organise
themselves.
At the smallest level, a dominant male baboon will control a harem of
females.
A number of these one-male units, as scientists call them, may
organise into clans of monkeys.
Units and clans can gather into much larger social groupings, which
are called bands.
The monkeys within each band coordinate their activities, acting as a
cohesive social unit.
Many bands also hang out as part of a huge troop.
A single troop of Hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas) can contain
several hundred individuals.
Inter-troop warfare ... (cont)