Primate Predation: Interim Report on the Development of a Tradition in a Troop of Olive Baboons

Abstract

A troop of olive baboons, Papio anubis, has developed systematic predation, which includes hunting and sharing of meat. Although meat-eating among nonhuman primates—baboons and chimpanzees especially—had been discovered in earlier field studies, systematic predation had been reported for chimpanzees and humans only. Starting as an adult male activity in the olive baboon troop, this tradition rapidly expanded to include capture and consumption of prey by adult females and juveniles of all ages and both sexes. Infants eat but have not been observed to capture prey.