Chapter Summary
The harem-based social organization of hamadryas baboons has been attributed primarily to the predisposition of hamadryas males to herd females into one-male units (OMUs). Hamadryas females, by contrast, are thought to be behaviorally flexible. In this chapter, we describe and analyze female behavior in a hybrid group located in the Awash hybrid zone of Ethiopia. All individuals in the group are hamadryas-olive hybrids, but individual phenotypes range from mostly hamadryas to mostly olive. We use data across a 40-month period to assess whether or not females of different ancestry exhibit different behavioral strategies within the same mixed group. We found that females follow three distinct behavioral strategies: strict OMU, loose OMU, and non- OMU. Behaviors that suggested a hamadryas-like social organization (e.g., strong intersexual bonds) were associated with the strict-OMU females, and behaviors that suggested an olive-like social organization (e.g., strong intrasexual bonds) were associated with the non-OMU females. Furthermore, there was a significant relationship between morphological phenotype and behavior: Females that had more hamadryas-like morphological phenotypes exhibited behaviors characteristic of hamadryas baboons, while females with more olive-like morphological phenotypes exhibited behaviors like that of typical olive baboons. Loose-OMU females ranged across the spectrum both morphologically and behaviorally. Finally, strict-OMU females enjoyed higher reproductive success during this study than females in other kinds of groups. In sum, females under identical ecological pressures still exhibit particular behavioral strategies consistent with their morphological phenotype, suggesting that some aspects of female grouping behavior have a genetic basis.
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Beehner, J.C., Bergman, T.J. (2006). Female Behavioral Strategies of Hybrid Baboons in the Awash National Park, Ethiopia. In: Swedell, L., Leigh, S.R. (eds) Reproduction and Fitness in Baboons: Behavioral, Ecological, and Life History Perspectives. Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects. Springer, Boston, MA . https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-33674-9_3
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