The Daily Pattern of Main Activities in the Gelada Baboon (Theropithecus gelada)

Abstract

The aim of this work was to observe and analyse the main daily activities in the group of geladas kept in the Zlín Zoo. The experimental group was formed by three males (one of them was a dominant alfa male) and four females who were in the reproductive cycle at the observation period. The behavioural study included five recurrent observations which took place in March 2014. The observations revealed that geladas spent most of the time feeding (44.1%) and performing comfort behaviour (24.6%). About 7.7–10.4% of the total time the geladas spent moving, resting and observing the neighbourhoods. The settled and stable social hierarchy within the group prevented greater incidence (0.7%) of aggressive behaviour. Occurrence of other types of activities was low – play (1.7%), climbing the trees (0.5%) and sexual behaviour (2.3%). The work also studied how the incidence of a particular type of behaviour changed over time within the day. A certain pattern in behavioural activities was apparent because their incidence tended to be similar on all observation days. Foraging activities were the greatest (44.80 ± 3.64 observations) between 15.00 and 16.00, resting (8.00–9.80 observations) between 12.00 and 14.00 and comfort behaviour (23.20 ± 2.82 observations) in the morning.

Keywords

• gelada
• behaviour
• grooming
• interspecies communication