Baboon Family

Science

Monkey Business: The Science Behind Baboons

• 10 min read

Using Science To Learn About Primates, Including Ourselves.

For over fifty years, Dr. Shirley C. Strum and her team have studied baboons as socially intelligent beings with the ability to make decisions, navigate politics, and adapt to their environment. The research began near Lake Elementaita in Kenya, but in 1984, the team translocated three baboon troops to the Laikipia Plateau—a risky move that became a major scientific success.


Dr. Shirley C. Strum’s work reshaped how we understand primate behavior. Rather than aggression, baboons showed a strong preference for collaboration, alliances, and social strategy. These insights continue to inform how we think about human evolution. Today, the project also supports conservation, addresses human-wildlife conflict, and collaborates with local Maasai communities through ecotourism and community outreach.


UNBP studies important dimensions of baboon life:

  • Unusual events like the development of hunting and eating cactus fruit
  • Social relationships and power hierarchies
  • Ecological influence on troop behavior
  • Daily foraging decisions shaped by landscape and risk
  • Individual development and generational behavior patterns
  • Behavioral evolution across troop histories
  • Rare cultural shifts like those involved after translocation

This information provides insights about:

  • Are baboons’ models for the earliest humans
  • How to resolve current conservation dilemmas
  • Impact of predators and the sanctuary on baboons
  • Changing landscapes
  • Impact of invasive cactus on baboon diet and growth
  • Population dynamics
  • Social constraints and facilitators of life in a group

We integrate these facts into the bigger picture of baboon and human socio-ecology:

  • The role of predators in shaping troop movement and behavior
  • Impacts of seasonal drought and climate stress
  • Adaptations to invasive species like prickly pear cactus
  • Population trends influenced by environment and human activity
  • The unseen rules that shape baboon society — and possibly ours

Learn about the world of baboon societies including trust, betrayal, and evolution all in one and what it says about us.