Concerned residents in Pringle Bay asked about the “new” collar fitted to one of the female baboons of the Pringle Bay Baboon troop.
According to Dean O’Neill, Municipal Manager of the Overstrand Municipality, PBF1 was fitted with a tracking collar in December 2019 and her collar was replaced with a new one in February 2022.
“The collars allow the management team to monitor the troop’s whereabouts,” he explained. “This is done so that the service provider is able to set up their action plans to stop the baboon troop from entering the urban edge.”
The collars used in the Overstrand are in line with best practices under international standards, which states that the collar needs to weigh less than 5% of the body weight of an animal. In the Overstrand the service provider keeps the collar weight at 3% of the animal’s body weight. PBF1’s collar weighs 2% of her body weight.
Overstrand baboons are fitted with Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite collars and do not have flashing lights.
Residents also noticed that the collared baboon is being attended to a lot by other baboons and wondered about that.
As previously stated, PBF1 is the Alpha female of the Pringle Bay troop and that is why she is being groomed by so many other baboons.
As the Alpha female, her hierarchy status gives her this privilege in the troop structure and that is why she will always be seen to be groomed by other baboons.