THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MODEL ORGANISMS Insights into the evolution of social systems and species from baboon studies

Julia Fischer , James P Higham , Susan Alberts (1) , Louise Barrett , Jacinta C Beehner , Thore Bergman (2) , Alecia Carter (3) , Anthony Collins , Sarah Elton , Joë L Fagot , Maria Ferreira , Kurt Hammerschmidt (4) , Peter Henzi , Clifford J Jolly , Sascha Knauf , Gisela H Kopp , Jeffrey Rogers (5) , Christian Roos , Caroline Ross , Robert M Seyfarth , Joan Silk , Noah Snyder-Mackler , Veronika Staedele , Larissa Swedell (6) , Michael L Wilson , Dietmar Zinner

1 Departments of Biology and Evolutionary Anthropology [Duke Univ., USA]
2 University of Michigan [Ann Arbor]
3 Department of Zoology [Cambridge]
4 Research group cognitive ethology
5 Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
6 Department of Anthropology

Baboons, members of the genus Papio, comprise six closely related species distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa and southwest Arabia. The species exhibit more ecological flexibility and a wider range of social systems than many other primates. This article summarizes our current knowledge of the natural history of baboons and highlights directions for future research. We suggest that baboons can serve as a valuable model for complex evolutionary processes, such as speciation and hybridization. The evolution of baboons has been heavily shaped by climatic changes and population expansion and fragmentation in the African savanna environment, similar to the processes that acted during human evolution. With accumulating long-term data, and new data from previously understudied species, baboons are ideally suited for investigating the links between sociality, health, longevity and reproductive success. To achieve these aims, we propose a closer integration of studies at the proximate level, including functional genomics, with behavioral and ecological studies.

Domaines: Biologie animale; Biologie de la reproduction; Ecologie, Environnement; Sciences cognitives

Julia Fischer, James P Higham, Susan Alberts, Louise Barrett, Jacinta C Beehner, et al.. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MODEL ORGANISMS Insights into the evolution of social systems and species from baboon studies. eLife, 2019. ⟨hal-02362108⟩