Engh also mentioned that friendships form between male and female baboons. For those relationships, the female often grooms the male, while the male protects the female, and any infants that she might have, from predation and bullying baboons.
Brian Craft, lead keeper at the Oakland Zoo in California, told Animal Planet News that he was not surprised by the findings.
"Advanced relationships are seen in chimpanzees, bonobos, as well as baboons and other multi-social troops," Craft explained.
He said, "Friendships, which may help to ease stress after deaths, can be beneficial to the troop as a whole, as they keep it cohesive. It also appears that friend selection among baboons and other primates is somewhat of a choice, as for humans, and is not just instinctual behavior."
Name: Chacma Baboon (
Papo ursinus)
Primary Classification: Cercopithecidae (Old World Monkeys)
Location: Southern Africa
Habitat: Woodlands, steppe, highland grasslands and savannah
Diet: Mainly fruit and some leaves. Also roots, grasses, bark, twigs, sap, tubers, bulbs, etc.
Size: Males are up to 30 inches in weight and 97 pounds in weight. Females are smaller.
Description: Dark brown to black fur; close-set eyes; prominent brow ridge; nearly naked ears; long muzzle with powerful jaws; males have sharp canines; wide hands and feet with stubby digits; long, whip-like tail
Cool Facts: It has been shown that baboons form friendships with one another, which is a rare occurrence in the animal kingdom. They will band together to mob predators, such as leopards, sometimes dealing out severe injuries. The male's canines are as long and sharp as a lion's.
Conservation Status: Common
