The Top 5 Myths About Baboons

What do you know about baboons? If you answered that they’re aggressive, then you’re correct! But, of course, there’s much more to baboons than that—you may be surprised to learn what baboons are not aggressive towards and other fun facts about them. Read on to learn the top five myths about baboons and the facts that dispel these common misconceptions!

1) Myth: A Baboon is Just Another Type of Monkey

While it’s true that baboons are considered part of the primate family, they are not just another type of monkey. Both monkeys and baboons have cloven feet, opposable thumbs, and nails on their fingers and toes. But a baboon has many differences from a monkey. For example, a male baboon weighs up to 200 pounds (90 kg), while most monkeys don’t weigh more than 150 pounds (68 kg). And where a monkey is covered in hair, a baboon is covered in short fur that looks almost like wool.

2) Myth: A Baby Baboon is Called a Baby Monkey

Baboons and monkeys are very different animals; they belong to entirely different groups of mammals. A baby baboon is called a baby baboon, not a baby monkey. They are related to Old World Monkeys like chimpanzees, mangabeys, macaques, and colobus monkeys—not New World Monkeys like capuchins or spider monkeys. Like their primate cousins, baboons live in hierarchical troops led by alpha males that dominate through aggression and physical power. An adult male baboon can weigh up to 120 pounds (55 kg), three times heavier than an adult male capuchin monkey!

3) Myth: No One Can Tell Baboons Apart From Chimpanzees

Fact or Fiction? Are baboons and chimpanzees both monkeys or are they apes? It may seem as if these animals are interchangeable, but it’s clear that people don’t know baboon facts. The truth is that baboons look very similar to chimpanzees, but they have many features that set them apart. Baboons live in Africa and tend to stick to savannah areas whereas chimps only inhabit more forested regions. Besides having a more pointed snout, they also have hairier ears and their tails aren’t quite as long as those of chimps. Additionally, an adult baboon weighs between 33–46 pounds (15–20 kilograms) and usually measures about two feet (0.7 meters) tall.

4) Myth: A Male Baboon Will Chew Off His Testicles if He Falls in Love with Another Male

Myth Busted! It’s true, in rare cases, a male baboon will remove his testicles to rid himself of temptation. However, it’s important to note that it takes years for a male baboon to reach sexual maturity and when he does mate with another male, there’s rarely any reproduction involved – so it’s not like they get rid of their balls as some sort of kinky pre-sex ritual. Most likely, a young baboon is simply trying to assert dominance over other males in an attempt to boost his social status and gain acceptance among females within his troop.

5) Myth: Humans are Not at Risk from Being Eaten by the Wild, Feral, or Domesticated Forms of This Primate

The above title or common nickname for baboons (baboon is one species among many in a very large group of animals called primates) is wrong. Most people think of baboons and automatically assume apes. The first mistake here is thinking that apes and monkeys are at all similar. Monkeys are placental mammals, whereas apes are hominid mammals that have been genetically separated from their closest genetic relatives for over 6 million years. They have far more in common with us than with monkeys.