Hamadryas Baboon (Papio hamadryas) Fact Sheet: Diet & Feeding

Feeding habit

• Primarily vegetarian, though omnivorous (Kummer 1968a; Kummer 1968b; Kummer 1995; Schreier 2010; Sigg and Stolbe 1981; Zinner et al. 2001)

Diet varies regionally

• Africa
  • Grass seeds
  • Roots of Boerhavia repens
  • Berries of Grewia bushes
  • Acacia flowers (in rainy season)
  • Acacia leaves and acacia pods (in dry season)
• Arabia
  • Similar to diet in Africa
  • Often feed at city waste facilities (Kummer et al. 1985)
• Fruit and young shoots of opuntia cactus (where introduced)
• Nuts of the doum palm tree (Hyphaene thebaica)
• See Schreier (2010) for a detailed study on diet of baboons in the Filoha palm forests in Awash National Park, Ethiopia

Rarely carnivorous (Kummer 1995)

• Prey on hare or dik-dik antelope
• Locusts when they swarm

May eat agricultural grains (Biquand et al. 1992; Kummer 1968b; Zinner et al. 2001)

Hamadryas baboon feeding, with young. South Lakes Wild Animal Park, UK.

Image credit: © Tony Roberts at Flickr. Some rights reserved.

Biquand et al. (1992)
Kummer (1968a)
Kummer (1968b)
Kummer (1985)
Kummer (1995)
Schreier (2010)
Sigg and Stolbe (1981)
Zinner et al. (2001)