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Chacma baboons (Papio hamadryas ursinus) are a widespread and successful primate species in southern Africa (Estes 1992, Rowe 1996). The ability to live in many habitats, under challenging environmental conditions, is a major reason for their success (Altmann 1998). In South Africa, the rapid increase of urbanization and decreasing number of unprotected natural areas has caused many species, including baboons, to become scattered and isolated. This is the situation facing a population of chacma baboons in the Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve, a small mountainous grassland reserve situated in Gauteng Province.

Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve comprises ideal habitat for baboons with a range of different habitats such as open grassland, Acacia savannah, mixed shrub land and denser wooded areas. Challenges facing baboons include seasonal fluctuations and spatial changes in food availability with regard to habitat availability. Problems arise when a population grows too large for small areas of protected natural habitats. When the foraging needs imposed by baboons on natural resources are not sustainable, it is likely that baboons will look to adjacent human resources, such as farming or urban environments, to meet energy demands.

The opportunity arose to study this population because radio collars (which use cell-phone telemetry to receive information) were fitted onto several individual baboons by staff from the Gauteng Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment (hereafter referred to as GDACE). My project investigates the diet, foraging behaviour and movement patterns in the baboon population at Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve. The combined knowledge from different aspects of foraging will give an indication of foraging effort within the population with regards to seasonal and environmental changes in food resources. Using the results from this study, it is my aim to generate foraging models in relation to the foraging and activity pattern of baboons in Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve, which can be used as an aid to manage the baboon population there.

What an animal eats is directly tied to the environment which it inhabits and the type of food resources it can use (Robinson and Holmes 1982). Resources are not constant and fluctuate temporally (Hill and Dunbar 2002) and spatially (Klaassen et al. 2006). Baboons are described as generalist omnivores and their diet includes many types of plants, invertebrate and small vertebrate animals (Altmann and Altmann 1970). In omnivores, diet over a short period is rarely restricted to one type of food (Clark 1982).

Omnivores face multiple choices in food selection, where individuals may need to balance the ratio of food types in their diet in relation to overall energy needs and digestive ability (Buck et al. 2003, Clark 1982). For example, fruit is a high-energy food source and can be quickly utilized, but is seasonally abundant, distributed randomly in an area and habitat specific (DeVore and Hall 1965, Garber 1987). Therefore, the cost of energy and time expended in obtaining the fruit may outweigh its energy gain (Jolly 1985). Whereas plant material, such as leaves from grass species, is abundantly available and widespread but is low in nutrients and difficult to digest, containing high levels of secondary compounds (e.g. crude fibre and/or tannins; Chapman and Chapman 2002, Dunbar 1988, Wynne-Edwards 2001).

Baboons are able to select from not only the species or part of the plant to eat, but when to include certain food items in their diet (Hamilton et al. 1978). Seasonal trends in environmental variables influence plant and animal resource levels and availability within different habitat types, which will influence diet choice (Alberts et al. 2005). Rainfall is a major determinant of plant productivity, where seasonal patterns correspond with resource availability (Alberts et al. 2005). For example, in spring- new grass blades; in summer - seeds and rhizomes; in winter - roots, bulbs and tubers (Altmann and Altmann 1970, Post 1982).

Contents

Declaration
Abstract
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Chapter One: Introduction

1.1 Rationale for my study
1.2 Diet
1.3 Foraging behaviour
14 Foraging behaviour in baboons
1.5 Distance travelled and foraging effort
1.6 Space Use
1.6.1 Movement patterns
1.6.2 Home range
1.6.3 Habitat use
1.7 Baboon-human interactions
1.7.1 Baboons and agriculture
17.2 Management and Conservation
1.8 Aims
1.9 Hypotheses and Predictions

Chapter Two: Materials and methods

2.1 General
2.1.1 Study Animal
2.1.2 Study Site
2.1.3 Cellular collars
2.1.4 Study population
2.2 Dung Analysis
2.2.1 Collection
2.2.2 Sample Analysis
2.3 Foraging Behaviour
2.3.1 Data collection
2.3.2 Data Analysis
2.4 Space Use
2.4.1 Global information system (GIS) collection and analysis
2.4.2 Distance travelled
2.4.2.1 GIS analysis
2.4.2.2 Statistical analysis
2.4.3 Home Range
2.4.3.1 GIS analysis
2.4.3.2 Statistical analysis
2.4.4 Habitat use
2.4.4.1 GIS analysis, habitat and troop
classification
2.4.4.2 Statistical analysis
2.4.5 Line Transects
2.4.5.1 Collection and sampling
2.4.5.2 Data analysis

Chapter Three: Results

3.1 Diet
3.2 Foraging Behaviour
3.3 Movement patterns, space use and habitat use
3.3.1 Distance travelled
3.3.1.1 Season
3.3.1.2 Troop
3.3.2 Home range
3.3.2.1 Season
3.3.2.2 Troop
3.3.3 Habitat use
3.3.3.1 Open troops
3.3.3.2 Savannah troops
3.3.3.3 Mix troops
3.3.3.4 Overview
3.3.4 Line transects

Chapter Four: Discussion

4.1 Diet
4.2 Foraging Behaviour
4.2.1 Seasonal differences in foraging behaviour
4.2.2 Troop differences in foraging behaviour
4.3 Distance travelled and foraging effort
4.4 Social foraging and fission-fusion behaviour
4.5 Foraging patterns and space use
4.5.1 Home range size and population density
4.5.2 Habitat and home range use
4.6 Foraging strategies and foraging model
4.7 To raid or not to raid?
4.8 Future studies and management suggestions
4.9 Conclusions

References
Appendix

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