Amboseli Baboon Research Project
Kenya, Africa
- Epidemiology
- Genetics & Genomics
- *Infectious Diseases
- *Non-Communicable Diseases
- Nutrition
- Population & Family Health
The Amboseli Baboon Research Project (ABRP) is one of the longest-running studies of wild primates in the world. Focused on the savannah baboon, Papio cynocephalus, ABRP is located in the Amboseli ecosystem of East Africa, north of Mt. Kilimanjaro. We track hundreds of known individuals in several social groups over the course of their entire lives. We currently monitor around 300 animals, but over the last five decades we have accumulated life history information on over 1,500 animals. Research at ABRP has long centered on processes at the individual, group, and population levels, and in recent years has also included other aspects of baboon biology, such as genetics, hormones, nutrition, hybridization, parasitology, and relations with other species. Over the last decade, major research questions have included: How does an individual’s social context shape their morbidity and mortality? How do early life experiences, especially harsh conditions in early life, shape health and survival outcomes in adulthood? Why do some animals age faster than others? What are the dominant drivers of gut microbiome dynamics, and do these dynamics predict biodemographic markers of health? How do gut microbes spread in socially structured populations?
Researchers
Partners
- Duke University
- Institute of Primate Research
- Kenya Wildlife Service
- Princeton University
- Environmental Change Initiative