Behavioural Patterns of a Troop of Olive Baboons (<i>Papio Anubis</i>) Foraging on Maize Crops at the Borders of Gashaka Gumti National Park Nigeria

Abstract

Olive baboons forage viciously on agricultural crops causing huge losses of farm produce to farmers. In this study, behavioural pattern of a troop of crop raiding olive baboons, Papio anubis which dwell at the periphery of Gashaka Gumti National Park and forage on crops were studied as they raided maize farms. Successful raids were significantly higher than unsuccessful raids (t = 4.54, df = 3, P = 0.02), and increased from early morning hours to peak between 1200-1500hours. The same behavioural activities of the troop differed significantly while raiding maize crops from when not raiding the crops (χ2 = 17.66, df = 5, P = 0.003). The adult male olive baboon was the most successful member of the troop that raided maize crops, while the infant baboon was the least successful member of the raiding party. Farmers guarded their farms, and yelled at the baboons, threw stones and chased the baboons as they attempted to raid maize crops, but 73.74 ± 7.43 % of attempted raids were successful indicating that farmers could not prevent the olive baboons from raiding their crops. It was suggested that in order to prevent these raids, farmers should coordinate their activities while guarding farms by constantly moving in groups and communicating with nearby groups, informing them in advance of the direction in which the raiding party is heading; also farms should not be cultivated close to wildlife refuge in the park.

KEYWORDS: Olive Baboons, Troop, Raids, Maize Crops