Daily activity, feeding ecology and habitat association of Gelada baboon (Theropithecus gelada) around Debre-Libanos, Northwest Shewa Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

Daily activity, feeding ecology and habitat association of Gelada baboon around Debre-Libanos was investigated using direct field observations from August 2012 to March 2013. Instantaneous scan sampling method was used to collect behavioral data from two selected study groups of gelada baboons on an average of 7 days per month. The focal groups were identified by the natural marking, size, coat color and facial features of some distinctive members of each of these groups. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and responses were compared using Chi-square tests. On average, Gelada baboons spent more time on feeding (56.12%) than any other activity. They spent 16.76% of their time moving, 16.05% socializing, and 9.42% resting. Other activities such as vocalization, defecation and looking at the observer occurred infrequently (1.66%). They depended fully on grass during the wet season (82.1%), but during the dry season, they fed on roots (21.35%) and leaves (20.04%) in larger proportion. There was significant variation among the activity time budget of gelada baboons in the whole study period (χ

Daily Activity Pattern of Geladas (Theropithecus gelada, Ruppell 1835) in Kotu Forest, Northern Ethiopia

“…Data collection was carried out from August 2017 to February 2018 covering, both the dry and wet seasons. Wet season data collections were conducted from August 2017 to 2 e Scientific World Journal October 2017 and for the dry season from December 2017 to February 2018. e daily activities of geladas were recorded as they approached targeted groups from 10 to 25 m. Depending on the distance between the observer and the scanned gelada group as well as the topography of the habitat, the behavioral activities were recorded both with naked eyes and aided by 10 × 42 Bushnell binocular [14,28,[42][43][44]. To record the behavioral activity pattern of each selected group, 8 consecutive days per month were spent for a total of 7 months covering both dry and wet seasons.…”

“…e habitat is characterized by its vicinity to cliffs for sleeping and the use of several different types of relatively treeless and montane grasslands for foraging; habitats that are usually intermixed with bushes, trees, and dens thickets [26][27][28][29]. Among primates, geladas are excellent diggers and the only primate which has a specialized graminivorous diet [30,31].…”

“…Primates including endemic species such as gelada are severely threatened by anthropogenic threats such as habitat degradation, fragmentation, loss, poaching, and climate change [ 6 , 32 , 33 ]. Various studies investigated the daily activity patterns of geladas in Ethiopia over protected areas such as Simien Mountain National Park [ 9 , 32 , 34 , 35 ] and Guassa Community Conservation Area [ 33 ], and some valleys and associated grasslands [ 5 , 14 , 28 , 36 , 37 ]. However, about 17.62% of Ethiopia's land mass coverage is protected (United Nations Environmental Protection-World Conservation Monitoring Center (UNEPWCMC) [ 38 ].…”

“…Moreover, due to environmental and biological variations among habitats of geladas, the diurnal activity pattern could vary among subpopulations. For example, rainfall, temperature, soil, and topographic variations among ranges of geladas could lead to variations in food availability and quality, which in turn lead to activity time budget differences [ 6 , 14 , 28 ]. As a result, this study is curious to answer research questions such as what is the most dominant diurnal activity of geladas at Kotu forest.…”

Marginalized Groups of Gelada (Theropithecus gelada) Living in and around the Highly Disturbed Mount Guna Community Conservation Area, Northwest Ethiopia

“…In Ethiopian highlands, geladas are coming in contact with humans as local farmers expand their cultivation and livestock grazing to the areas once inhabited only by wildlife. In addition to this, due to their specialized diet (mainly grasses including Brachiaria comate, Cyperus erectus, Festuca abyssinica, and Festuca macrophylla), geladas are harshly affected by soil erosion, drought, and possibly even global warming [3,4]. Gelada is classified as nearly threatened in 2003.…”