Manuscript Category
Nature Notes
Title
Electricity pylons are used by
olive baboons (Papio anubis ) as sleeping sites in Laikipia,
Kenya.
Authors
Laiyon Lenguya1*, Lolimo Ewaton2,
Nicholas W. Pilfold3
* Correspondence: lenguya01@gmail.com
Affiliations
1 Loisaba Conservancy, Nanyuki, Kenya
2 Sanctuary Tambarare Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Nanyuki,
Kenya
3 Conservation Science & Wildlife Health, San Diego
Zoo Wildlife Alliance, San Diego, USA
Word Count
Abstract: 76
Body: 1022
Acknowledgements
This research was carried out with permission from the Wildlife Research
and Training Institute permit No. WRTI-0234-010-22. I extend my warm
gratitude to Miquel Torrents-Ticó for his support and Alexander
Pritchard, Jake Goheen, and Stanislaus Kivai for their initial insight
into the paper. Much appreciation to Ol Pejeta team: Samuel Mutisya,
Benard Gituku and Mercy Waithira for their kind thoughts and property
access.
Data Availability Statement
All raw data available in supporting materials.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest in the publication of this
manuscript.
Abstract
Olive baboons (Papio anubis ) use fixed, secure and
naturally-occurring sleeping sites such as tall trees and rocky cliffs,
as protection from predators. Although these sleeping sites are safe,
they can be limited in availability. We documented olive baboons’ use of
45 m tall high-tension electrical pylons (towers) as sleeping sites in
Laikipia, Kenya. These observations suggest that olive baboons may use
anthropic infrastructure for sleeping sites in areas where naturally
occurring cliffs and tall trees are limited.
Introduction
Olive baboons (Papio
anubis, hereafter ‘ baboon’) use secure and naturally-occurring
sleeping sites such as tall trees and cliffs as an anti-predator
strategy while sleeping
(Hamilton, 1982; Isbell et al.,
2018). In addition to predation risk, parasite infestation and
fecal-matter load within sleeping sites can influence their frequency of
use (Hausfater and Meade, 1982),
and the limited availability of good quality sites is generally thought
to regulate baboon distribution and group sizes
(Cheney et al., 2003; Markham et
al., 2015; Suire et al., 2020). While other primate species have been
observed using anthropic structures such as rooftops and electricity
poles (Bracken et al., 2021;
Brotcorne et al., 2014; Hoffman and O’Riain, 2012; Sarker et al., 2005),
this behavior has not been observed in long-term baboon studies in
Laikipia, Kenya (Bidner et al.,
2018; Butynski, and Jong, 2014; Danish and Palombit, 2014; Isbell et
al., 2017; Matsumoto-Oda, 2015; Strum, 2005; Suire et al., 2020).
However, recently installed electrical transmission pylons (hereafter
‘pylons’) to transmit power between Kenya and Ethiopia
(Fichtner, 2009) are a novel
anthropic feature in an environment with relatively low human
disturbance. Here we document the use of pylons as sleeping sites by
baboons within Acacia woodland-savannah and discuss the possible
reasons for their use.
Material and Methods
Observations were collected on March 5-6, 2023, at the 255
km2 Agriculture Development Corporation (ADC) Mutara
ranch within Laikipia County, Kenya. Laikipia County is an 8,700
km2 region of semi-arid bushland in central Kenya,
with a mean annual temperature of 18.3° C (range: 13.0-25.2° C), and a
mean total of 812mm of precipitation annually (monthly mean range:
23-133 mm). ADC Mutara is in the southern part of the greater
Laikipia-Samburu ecosystem, which is a mosaic of grassland,Euclea shrubland, as well as Acacia and riverine woodland
(Woodroffe and Frank, 2005).
On the evening of March 5th between 18:00 and 19:00,
we opportunistically encountered baboons roosting on pylons during
ongoing large mammal surveys by vehicle. After encountering, we scanned
the troops, counting and aging individuals. We used a GPS to record the
locations of the roosting sites. We used Empire Model 218 Binoculars
(7x35) to enhance counting individual baboons in each troop, and a Canon
EOS 1300D camera to take photos to confirm observations. We returned to
the sleeping sites on the morning of March 6th at
06:30, to confirm presence as an overnight sleeping site. Due to the
limit replicates (n = 3 troops, 1 event), we did not have
sufficient samples to conduct a statistical analysis.
Results
We recorded three troops using pylons as sleeping sites in two distinct
locations. The first sleeping site consisted of three different pylons
and two troops (N. 0.08278˚, E. 36.75079˚) see (Figure 1; Table 1). We
encountered another baboon troop using pylons as a sleeping site
encountered 2.5 km away (N. 0.0909˚, E. 36.77193˚). We observed two
pylons occupied by baboons, but visibility was minimal given low light,
and we could not identify demographics at each pylon. Baboons were still
atop all pylons asleep at 06:30 on March 6 when we arrived, confirming
that all three baboon troops used the pylons as sleeping sites. Total
troop sizes were estimated that morning (Table 1).
Discussion
We report a rare observation of three troops of olive baboons utilizing
electrical transmission pylons as sleeping sites in Laikipia County,
Kenya. Usually, in this landscape, tall Acacia trees and rocky
cliffs are predominantly selected as sleeping sites by baboons
(Bidner et al., 2018; Hamilton,
1982; Suire et al., 2020). ADC Mutara has no cliffs, the landscape is
flat and dominated by short Vachellia drepanolobium (Figure 1).
The lack of cliffs as an available sleeping site possibly prompted the
use of newly erected pylons as alternative sleeping sites. For example,
at Mpala Research Centre in Laikipia, despite the availability of pylons
from the same transmission line, baboons still use cliffs and tall trees
as their preferred sleeping sites and have yet to be observed using
pylons (LL, unpublished data).
Pylons are vertically erect towers, with tall, smooth crossbar pillars
that can be used by multiple baboons. Such a structure provides strong
physical support for resting baboons, and may be difficult for
predators, such as African leopards (Panthera pardus pardus ) to
climb. Additionally, the pylons limited surface area may minimize
parasitic loads from poop piles, and thus could be cleaner than
naturally occurring sites. Pylons are also evenly spaced every 270 m,
limiting the distance travelled from a sleeping site to a baboon’s
preferred foraging area. However, trees and cliffs likely offer greater
thermoregulatory benefits as sleeping sites due to their structure,
which shields baboons from the wind
(Bidner et al., 2018; Hamilton,
1982; Markham et al., 2015), whereas the pylon structure is engineered
to reduce wind resistance. Since the pylons traverse natural habitat
such as ADC ranch and extend into small-scale farms, they may encourage
baboon crop raiding behavior, potentially resulting in heightened
human-wildlife conflicts in this region (Strum, 2010). The use of pylons
may therefore present a cost-benefit tradeoff based on local conditions,
and the factors that promote the use of such structures warrants further
study.
Brotcorne et al., (2014) reported
that anthropic features influenced sleeping site choice of long-tailed
Macaques, whereas Sarker et al., (2005) reported that Rhesus macaques
used rooftops and electricity poles while foraging and resting. To our
knowledge, there have been no reported cases of pylon use as sleeping
sites in olive baboons. Electrocutions from use of anthropic power
infrastructure have been documented in five species of primates in Kenya
including yellow baboons (Katsis et al., 2018), but the survival risk
posed by high-tension electrical pylons as sleeping sites remains
unknown. The use of pylons as sleeping sites is intriguing, and given
the potential risk of electrocution, encourages further research.
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