This monthly report covers the period from 1 to 30 June 2020. Although June is mid-winter, when the baboon troops normally push their hardest to raid the urban areas, the northern troops remained 100% of their time out of town. Only one entry into the urban area was recorded when an unidentified female entered Zwaanswyk, but she did not raid. The Constantia 1 and Constantia 2 Troops continued to move and sleep together during the first half of the month, but started to move apart following increased conflict between MT14 (alpha male of CT2 Troop) and the CT1 adult males.
In the southern peninsula, three troops (Waterfall, Da Gama and Slangkop) again proved difficult to manage this month, although improved management efforts on the ground did bear fruit. The Waterfall troop showed the most significant improvement with time out of town increasing from 85.9% in May to 99.8% in June. The Da Gama Troop also had a significant improvement from spending only 91.1% time out of town in May to 95.8% time out of town in June. Unfortunately, the Slangkop troop time out of town continued to decline to 72.9% after being 78% in May. Slangkop troop continued to sleep close to town and therefore had relatively easy access into town.
This month the annual detailed ground count of managed baboons was completed by HWS. This has been a two-month process counting all the baboons in each managed troop. The counts were conducted over two months to allow enough time to get accurate counts for each troop. Any births or deaths recorded after the count were accommodated into the end of June final figures. The counts are conducted according to the specifications outlined in the baboon management contract, and follow the City of Cape Town’s financial year, from July to June. The results of the annual count are published in a separate report, but are summarized under the population data in Table 2.
