Baboon (papio urinus) group decision making at the urban edge

Social animals need to coordinate their group movements and make group decisions if they are to remain together. The development of urban landscapes has fragmented natural landscapes and resulted in increased human-wildlife interactions, affecting animals’ decision-making. Interactions between non-human primates and people are common; high-energy foods found in urban habitats provide rich foraging opportunities for primates, increasing their growth and reproduction, but also resulting in chronic conflict with people that reduces both primate’s and people’s wellbeing. Understanding the decision-making dynamics of urban foraging groups will therefore inform management strategies. Here, I use high-resolution 1Hz GPS data to track the decisions of n=13 adults in a group of chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) to move into urban spaces at the edge of the City of Cape Town, South Africa. Management teams contracted by the city aim to reduce negative baboon-human interactions by herding troops away from urban areas, by targeting males that tend to lead chacma baboon troop decision-making. I find the troop shows high fission-fusion dynamics when moving into urban space. The size and composition of groups entering the urban space varies, suggesting individuals are driven by self-interests. After entering urban space, lower-ranking females spent more time in the urban space than higher-ranking individuals. Dominance rank predicted baboon’s importance in the urban association network, and important individuals were more likely to lead larger group sizes into urban space. However, the alpha male was not as involved in urban association networks as predicted, with the beta ranked male being most central in the urban association network. I interpret these patterns as a consequence of baboon’s response to management interventions, which focus on the alpha and their affiliates when in the urban space. The high level of fission-fusion of the troop highlights behavioural flexibility of individuals and the group in response to urban spaces and management therein