Baboon Population Census

The past decade has witnessed an increase in the degree of interaction between people and baboons. These interactions have unfortunately been largely negative, e.g., the raiding of crops and other human foods. People experiencing these interactions sometimes argue that baboon populations have increased dramatically and have spiraled out of control, at least in South Africa.

This combination of negative baboon-human interactions and the perception of a rapidly increasing baboon population has led in some cases to a call for for baboon culling strategies. While culling is a viable conservation strategy and thus must sometimes be employed, it should only be used as a last resort.

Any conservation problem must begin with an assessment of the current population status. Moreover, any call for culling as a result of a perceived expansion of a population must first be verified. Yet at present there is no comprehensive population data set for the baboons in South Africa. Such a data set is an essential starting point for discussions of both baboon-human conflict and long-term conservation strategies for South African baboon populations.

Given this need, one of the short-term goals of the Imfene Initiative is to provide an online collaborative framework for the collection and synthesis of a South African baboon population census.