Climate and predation drive variation of diel activity patterns in chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) across Southern Africa
Understanding how animals adjust daily activity to environmental gradients reveals key drivers of behavioral plasticity. While diel activity is theorized to reflect trade-offs among thermoregulation, energy balance, and predation risk, few studies test these interactions at broad spatial scales within species. We investigated this in chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) using over a million camera-trap detections across 29 sites in six biomes (2016-2022) in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Activity, as measured by area under the kernel density curve (AUC), declined by about 3% with latitude, consistent with lower resource predictability, and increased with thermal stress, while latest detected movement (LDM) and earliest detected movement (EDM) times were similar across sites. Baboons avoided midday heat but increased dawn and night activity under predator pressure. These findings show how abiotic and biotic pressures shape diel schedules and highlight temporal flexibility as an adaptive strategy for generalist mammals in a changing world.
Authors
- Jan A. Venter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4548-2571)
- Franck Prugnolle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8519-1253)
- Anita Wilkinson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7003-9371)
- Marc Choisy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5187-6390)
- Élise Huchard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6944-449X)
- Hervé Fritz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7106-3661)
- Rebecca Garbett
- Lucie Thel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2323-1106)
- Virginie Rougeron (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5873-5681)
- Locadia Dzingwena (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-8525-4292)
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Panthera Corporation (US)
- École Pratique des Hautes Études (FR)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (FR)
- Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (VN)
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR)
- Nelson Mandela University (ZA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2025-11-10
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-23151-3
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.44
Funders
- Panthera
- National Research Foundation
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
- Nelson Mandela University