Chacma Baboon

Chacma Baboon

Papio ursinus

Silhouette: Owen Jones · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~20% · Possible
at Addo Elephant National Park

In 3 days ~60% in a week ~80%

80 Verified sightings at Addo Elephant National Park From 2019 to 2026
3,029 In all 19 parks
August Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Chacma Baboon

The chacma baboon (Papio ursinus), also known as the Cape baboon, is, like all other baboons, from the Old World monkey family. It is one of the largest of all monkeys. Located primarily in southern Africa, the chacma baboon has a wide variety of social behaviours, including a dominance hierarchy, collective foraging, adoption of young by females, and friendship pairings. These behaviors form parts of a complex evolutionary ecology. In general, the species is not threatened, but human population pressure has increased contact between humans and baboons. Hunting, trapping, and accidents kill or remove many baboons from the wild, thereby reducing baboon numbers and disrupting their social structure.

Due to hybridization between different baboon (Papio) populations across Africa, authors have occasionally grouped the entire radiation as a single species, the hamadryas baboon, Papio hamadryas. Arbitrary boundaries were then used to separate the populations into subspecies. Other authors once considered the chacma baboon a subspecies of the yellow baboon, Papio cynocephalus, although it is now recognised as a separate species, Papio ursinus. The chacma baboon has two or three... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call1:07

Botswana · 2023

© Marc Anderson · XC959793 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Recording0:47

Namibia · 2023

© ahartwig001 · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0

Recording0:31

Namibia · 2024

© silviagu · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Waterberg Plateau Park 🇳🇦 Namibia
~80%
2 Lower Zambezi National Park 🇿🇲 Zambia
~60%
3 De Hoop Nature Reserve 🇿🇦 South Africa
~60%
4 Mana Pools National Park 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
~60%
5 Golden Gate Highlands National Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~50%
6 uMkhuze Game Reserve 🇿🇦 South Africa
~50%
7 Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~50%
8 Hwange National Park 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
~50%
9 Chobe National Park 🇧🇼 Botswana
~50%
10 Moremi Game Reserve 🇧🇼 Botswana
~50%
11 Kruger National Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~40%
12 Gorongosa National Park 🇲🇿 Mozambique
~40%
13 Gonarezhou National Park 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
~40%
14 Table Mountain National Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~30%
15 Pilanesberg National Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~30%
16 Garden Route National Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~30%
17 Addo Elephant National Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~20%
18 Namib-Naukluft National Park 🇳🇦 Namibia
~20%
19 iSimangaliso Wetland Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~20%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Cape Town 🇿🇦 South Africa
<5%

Zoos & Centres Where Found

# Zoo / Centre Country
1 ZOOM Erlebniswelt 🇩🇪 Germany In captivity
2 Safari Masai Mara 🇲🇽 Mexico In captivity
3 Birds of Eden 🇿🇦 South Africa In captivity
4 Limassol Zoo 🇨🇾 Cyprus In captivity

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Chacma Baboon in Addo Elephant National Park?

Possible

About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Chacma Baboon sighting in Addo Elephant National Park on a given day, based on 80 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 12th most-seen of the 44 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Chacma Baboon in Addo Elephant National Park?

August

In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Chacma Baboon in Addo Elephant National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April, the lowest month.

What time of day is best to see a Chacma Baboon?

Between 2 and 5 pm

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Chacma Baboon sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Where does the Chacma Baboon sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Chacma Baboon is recorded against all the mammals logged in Addo Elephant National Park (80 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

← Back to Addo Elephant National Park