Baboon Management Overstrand

Publicly available monthly reports are produced about the baboon management project. These contain data regarding urban inucrsions and out of town records of the baboon troops in Hermanus (Voelklip and Vogelgat Troops) and Pringle Bay (Pringle Bay Troop), as well as a breakdown of hotline calls for the month. In addition to this, monthly, seasonal and daily trends of baboon behaviour are reported on.

To see our latest reports as well as the report archive, click on the Reports Archive button below.

This monthly report covers the period from 1 to 30 April 2021.  This month, at the request of the Overstrand Municipality, HWS has introduced new formats for the graphical presentation of ‘Time out of Town’ and  incursions by individuals (formerly known as raid sheets).  It is hoped that these new graphs present  a more readable and understandable format for the public.

Time in town for the Voëlklip Troop increased this month as individual or small groups of baboons managed to enter the urban space on multiple occasions. Despite the troop only utilising the sleepsites above Voëlklip suburb on a single occasion, the troop spent multiple nights at sleepsites near to the suburb which gave individuals the opportunity to break away from the troop and enter the urban space.

The Vogelgat Troop spent the majority of its time in the eastern reaches of its home range and only spent three nights above the urban space. The Virtual Fence was used to keep the troop out of the urban space 100% of the time.

The Virtual Fence was used to deter the Onrus Troop when it  returned to Berghof Estates for the first time since the Virtual Fence was activated there in March. The Hamilton Russel Troop was observed less frequently this month compared to March and was observed above Hermanus Heights on a single occasion.

The Pringle Bay Troop spent 100% time out of town this month and continued to utilise the Buffelstal Nature Reserve.  BRM1 was observed associating with the dominant females in the troop and is now definitely the alpha male.  The previous alpha male, PBM1, associated mostly with juvenile baboons and has started to spend more time on the periphery of the troop.

Management of the Betty’s Bay Troop officially commenced on 19 April 2021.  This troop is very different from any other known troop in the western Cape.   Not only is it much more habituated to the presence of humans, but at least three males have acquired the ability to break into houses by breaking sliding doors or windows.  Furthermore, as a result of being so habituated to humans (lost their natural fear of humans), this troop has also acquired the habit of splitting up into many small units when they get into the urban area.  The advantage of this trait for baboons, is that low ranking individuals can forage alone or in small groups and therefore not lose any choice items to the larger dominant adults if they find any.  It was therefore a totally new experience for HWS when starting to manage this troop.   Nevertheless, over a twelve day period this month, the troop and individual baboons both spent over 90% of their time out of town.