Aspects of Diet, Foraging, and Seed Predation in Ugandan Forest Baboons

Conclusion

Baboon diets have been discussed extensively over the last half-century, but most of the focus has been on the variations and extent seen in savanna-dwelling populations. Forest-living populations have essentially been ignored owing to the great difficulties inherent in observation on the forest floor, combined with research foci on behavioral rather than ecological issues. In this study of the Sonso baboons, the range of food materials included in the species diet is expanded substantially, and a number of unusual processing sequences are noted in addition to the variations on plant parts utilized. The Sonso baboons incorporate a rather high proportion of barks, piths, and gums into their diet and, as noted in the results, appear to ingest a number of phytochemical compounds that might be bioactive. Whether or not these bioactive compounds should be categorized as “regular diet components,” “diet supplements,” or as “medicinal compounds” is indeterminable at present. More research is required.

Baboons in forest conditions dramatically expand the range and variety of food materials, thus confirming their opportunistic omnivore categorization. At the same time, the differences in their preferences for unripe fruits and a broad range of nutmeats, piths, barks, and grasses points up the evolutionary disruptive selection that has forced their diet to diverge from but remain in substantial overlap with that of humans.