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The yellow baboon (Papio cynocephalus) is a baboon in the family of Old World monkeys. The species epithet literally means "dog-head" in Greek, due to the dog-like shape of the muzzle and head. Yellow baboons have slim bodies with long arms and legs, and yellowish-brown hair. Yellow baboons inhabit savannas and light forests in eastern Africa, from Kenya and Tanzania to Zimbabwe and Botswana. They are diurnal, terrestrial, and live in complex, mixed-gender social groups of eight to 200 individuals per troop. They are omnivorous with a preference for fruits, but also eat other plants, seeds, grasses, bulbs, leaves, bark, blossoms and fungi as well as worms, insects, birds, rodents and small mammals. All baboons are highly opportunistic feeders and will eat virtually any food they can find.

Yellow baboons use at least 10 different vocalizations to communicate. When traveling as a group, males will lead, females and young stay safely in the middle, and less-dominant males bring up the rear. A baboon group's hierarchy is such a serious matter, and some subspecies have developed interesting behaviors intended to avoid confrontation and retaliation. For example, males have frequently been documented using infants as a kind of "passport" or shield for safe approach toward another male. One male will pick up the infant and hold it up as it nears the other male. This action often calms the other male and allows the first male to approach safely.

Baboons are important in their natural environment, not only serving as food for larger predators, but also by dispersing seeds in their waste, and their messy foraging habits. They are also efficient predators of smaller animals and their young, keeping some animals' populations in check.

Source : Wikipedia