Baboons!

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Baboon pictures:

Baboon pictures: the dog-like baboon, largest non-hominid member of the primate order, populates the hills and savannas of Africa. Contrary to the premise of low budget horror movies, baboons are largely herbivorous foragers; only rarely do they prey on domesticated sheep or goats. Baboons are known for irregular period of activity, both day and night, and for living in hierarchical troops of up to two hundred and fifty members. Most troops number around fifty. A baboon life span, typically around thirty years, allow some species to grow up to four feet long and over eighty pounds. Smaller species only grow to about two feet and thirty pounds. A baboon’s primary predators, leopards, have to work for their meals since large male baboons will attack leopards. Other large species such as the brilliantly colored Mandrill were previously identified with baboons, but now scientists classify Drills as a separate species.

Our pictures of baboons, provided by photographer Andrew Hardman, feature the Hamadryas Baboon, or Sacred Baboon, that ranges from the Red Sea to Somalia and the Arabian Peninsula. Called the Sacred Baboon because of its importance to the Ancient Egyptians, the first people to paint pictures of baboons, the Hamadryas was attendant to the god Thoth. Thoth, pronounced “tot”, is actually a Greek name for a god identified with Hermes. Important as the moon god, Thoth also inspired wisdom, magic, and writing and was known as the mediator god. Since the moon regulated rituals, festivals, and the tides of the Nile, the life source for ancient Egypt, worship of Thoth, and thus vicariously of the baboon, was crucial to the continuity of the civilization. The most notable image of Thoth featured the head of an ibis. However, this image was often interchangeable with pictures of a baboon headed god. The Egyptians also included baboons in pictures of Thoth and of the life of Thoth.

Living farther north than other baboon species, the Hamadryas is also the baboon most pictured and photographed. Evident in our pictures of this baboon, the males are larger, sometimes twice as large as females. The males also develop red faces and large silver manes while the female looks brown and unadorned. Dangerous to the Hamadryas were lions and leopards, but have largely been exterminated in northern Africa. The primary concern for baboon enthusiasts is the encroachment of civilization on the territory of the Hamadryas, especially in industrialized North Africa. Civil wars, hunting, and urban sprawl have all taken their tolls on the baboon population. This species, however, is strong due to the work of naturalists and of zoos around the world. Our baboon pictures attest to the now growing strength of the baboon population. Please take the time to browse our baboon pictures of this ancient and sacred species.


James Webb©2005