Author response: Insights into the evolution of social systems and species from baboon studies

Julia Fischer,Kurt Hammerschmidt,Sascha Knauf,Dietmar Zinner,Joël Fagot,Christian Roos,Larissa Swedell,Louise Barrett,Anthony Collins,Jeffrey Rogers,Sarah Elton,Veronika Staedele,Michael L Wilson ,Joan B Silk ,Alecia J Carter ,S Peter Henzi ,Clifford J Jolly ,Robert M Seyfarth ,Jacinta C Beehner ,Gisela H Kopp ,Susan C Alberts ,Caroline Ross ,Maria Joana Ferreira Da Silva ,Noah Snyder‐Mackler ,James P Higham ,Thore J Bergman

doi:10.7554/elife.50989.009

Abstract

Baboons, members of the genus Papio, comprise six closely related species distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa and southwest Arabia. The species exhibit more ecological flexibility and a wider range of social systems than many other primates. This article summarizes our current knowledge of the natural history of baboons and highlights directions for future research. We suggest that baboons can serve as a valuable model for complex evolutionary processes, such as speciation and hybridization. The evolution of baboons has been heavily shaped by climatic changes and population expansion and fragmentation in the African savanna environment, similar to the processes that acted during human evolution. With accumulating long-term data, and new data from previously understudied species, baboons are ideally suited for investigating the links between sociality, health, longevity and reproductive success. To achieve these aims, we propose a closer integration of studies at the proximate level, including functional genomics, with behavioral and ecological studies.

Highlights

At the beginning of the 20th century, the South African naturalist Eugene Marais provided one of the first detailed accounts of free-ranging baboons (Marais, 1939), and by the 1950s, baboons had become the subject of more systematic scientific enquiry, both in the field and in captivity
This was the decade that the American physical anthropologist Sherwood Washburn and his student Irven DeVore set out to investigate baboons in Kenya (Vore and Washburn, 1961). Washburn reasoned that these ground-living primates were a good model for early human adaptations because they evolved in African savannas alongside ancestral hominins
We propose an approach that integrates field observations and carefully designed field experiments with cutting-edge measures of genomic variation, gene expression, non-invasive endocrinology and immunology

Summary

Introduction

Humans have been captivated by baboons for thousands of years: from ancient Egypt, where the god of wisdom, Thoth, was depicted with a baboon head, to the mid-19th century when Charles Darwin remarked, "He who understands baboon would do more towards metaphysics than Locke" (Darwin, 1838).

Results

Conclusion