A Curious Collection of Peculiar Creatures

The gelada baboon is a lot like us: They use a wide range of facial expressions to show how they feel, and they can display moods and emotions like playfulness or anger. Their warning look is the most important one to know. When their lips are pushed back over their gums, and their long, fang-like front teeth, called canines, are on display, it’s time to back off!

They also use the red patch on their chests to communicate. The female’s chest patch turns a deeper shade of red when she’s ready to mate. The color of the male’s chest patch deepens or fades in relation to his level of power in the herd—a truly extraordinary evolutionary adaptation. Sometimes they’re also called bleeding-heart baboons because of this characteristic.

Although both sexes have brown fur, males grow a magnificent mane and are usually larger than the females. They average around 4 feet (125 cm) tall and weigh around 45 pounds (20.5 kg), about 11 pounds (5 kg) heavier than females.

To see these monkeys in their natural habitats, you’ll have to travel to the highlands of Ethiopia and Eritrea. You’ll also need to climb steep cliffs and rocky gorges, where they like to huddle together at night. Even though they like to sleep in the cliffs, geladas are primarily terrestrial, meaning they spend most of their lives on the ground.

You may think they’re hunters and meat eaters because of their gigantic, terrifying teeth, but geladas are more or less vegetarian, and actually eat grass most of the time! They use their human-like hands to pick the most delicious blades of grass and avoid the less tasty ones. In drier months, when the grasses they love aren’t available, they’re forced to feed on roots, flowers, fruit, and the occasional insect instead.

Although the gelada’s habitat is being destroyed by humans to clear land for livestock and crops, these monkeys are not considered at risk.

The species has some protections, but people are still allowed to hunt and kill them, whether for food or trophies or because they’re seen as a nuisance to farmers.

Fun Facts

Gelada baboons have lived as long as 30 years in captivity, but probably don’t live as long in the wild.
Humans are the only primate that spends more time on the ground than the gelada! Most primates are primarily arboreal, meaning they live in the trees.
Geladas organize themselves into individual clans, or family groups. Typically, these are made up of one male and a number of females.
The collective term for a group of geladas is a band or herd.
They are the only surviving species from an ancient lineage of grazing primates.