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- West side story: regional inter‐troop variation in baboon bark‐stripping at gorongosa national park, MozambiquePublication . Biro, Dora; Muschinski, Jana; Hammond, Philippa; Bobe, René; Bamford, Marion K.; Capelli, Cristian; de Oliveira Coelho, João; Farassi, Rassina; Lüdecke, Tina; Martinez, Felipe I.; Silva, Maria Joana Ferreira; Carvalho, Susana; Mathe, JacintoObjectives: Baboons possess sophisticated physical and social cognitive abilities; hence, the lack of evidence to date of largescale behavioral variation in these primates is puzzling. Here we studied a candidate for such variation—the stripping of bark from Acacia robusta trees for consumption of the sap and soft tissue underneath—in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique. Materials and Methods: We surveyed an area inhabited by ~60 troops of chacma baboons, recording the availability and characteristics of the target trees, as well as the presence or absence of bark-stripping at 45 habitat plots distributed across a grid covering an area of ~300km2. Results: Camera traps confirmed the presence of baboons at all habitat plots, and we identified regional clumping in the distribution of the behavior, a pattern consistent across two consecutive years. Proportion and mean height/width of A. robusta did not predict whether bark-stripping behavior was present at a given site, nor did broader ecological variables such as habitat type and distance to the nearest water source. However, stripping sites had significantly higher numbers of A. robusta than non-stripping sites, and within a given bark-stripping site, baboons preferred to strip taller and wider trees among those available. Discussion: The prominent geographical clustering we uncovered may have been driven by opportunity (i.e., the prevalence of A. robusta at a given site), but is also consistent with a possible (non-mutually exclusive) cultural interpretation. We propose avenues for future research on Gorongosa's baboons to better quantify the relative contributions of ecology, genetics, and social.
- The primates of gorongosa national park, MozambiquePublication . Carvalho, Susana; Anemone, Robert L.; de Oliveira Coelho, João; Bobe, RenéThis contribution is an introduction to and synthesis of the special issue of the AJBA on Primate Adaptations in a Highly Seasonal and Heterogeneous African Ecosystem. The eight research papers in this special issue provide the first compilation of primatological research to emerge from Gorongosa National Park and represent a major landmark in the development of primatology as a science in Mozambique. Primatological field studies in the park were initiated in 2016 under the umbrella of the Paleo-Primate Project Gorongosa with the aim of exploring the deep time evolutionary history of the Gorongosa ecosystem and establishing a long-term primatological field research program. This initiative has resulted in the training of a new generation of primatologists, including the first from Mozambique. The papers in this volume focus on the behavior, ecology, adaptations, and genomics of baboons and vervet monkeys, and set the stage for the study of other primates in Gorongosa, including samango monkeys and nocturnal strepsirrhines. The environmental characteristics of the Gorongosa ecosystem, with major rivers and lakes in a dynamic mosaic of forests, woodlands, wetlands, and grasslands, and rich biodiversity, make Gorongosa a suitable analog for the environments in which early hominins are thought to have evolved. This special issue is dedicated to the memory of our dear friend and colleague Dr. Marc Stalmans, who was the Director of Science of Gorongosa National Park from 2012 to 2025.
- Habitat use and the demographics of object manipulation by wild chacma baboonsPublication . Farassi, Rassina; de Oliveira Coelho, João; Carvalho, SusanaObjectives: Studying object manipulation may offer insights about the emergence of habitual tool use in the hominin clade. Previous research on object manipulation has focused on habitual tool-using animals such as apes, capuchins, dolphins, and corvids. Investigating object manipulation in wild baboons, a highly social, ecologically adaptable, and terrestrial primate that is not a habitual tool user, can shed further light on the pressures favoring or inhibiting the use of technology. In this study, we investigate factors that influence object manipulation in the chacma baboons of Gorongosa National Park, across demographic and environmental conditions. Materials and Methods: We collected data using focal and scan sampling, with the aid of the Animal Observer app, and recorded object use and other behaviors. We followed three focal troops: Chitengo, Montebelo, and Floodplain. A total of 2262 observations were recorded across 88 individuals (787 events involved object use). Results: Mixed-effects logistic regressions revealed that habitat, age, and substrate use significantly predicted object use among baboons. Object use was most likely in open forests. Adults are less likely to engage in object manipulation, and this behavior decreases with age, which is in line with previous results reported for bonobos. Interestingly, baboons spend more time manipulating objects arboreally than terrestrially. Discussion: Our findings contribute to the current discussions about the contexts that promote tool use across the primate order. Further studies expanding on these results and assessing differential availability of resources can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the evolution of tool use.