It may look like a baboon, but it isn’t. Geladas ( Theropitecus gelada ) , a characteristic species of the Ethiopian highlands, are distinguished by several things from this other primate whose name may be somewhat more familiar to you. And it does not have to do only with the striking red color that the patches that adorn its chest have , unique among the rest of primates and that has earned it the nickname of “bleeding heart monkey”. In females, this region changes color and its edges fill with fluid, indicating that they are ready to mate. In dominant males, the color tends to flare even more crimson.
But not; They are his teeth, with the smaller incisors and the larger-than-normal teeth jagged molars; their fingers, whose thumbs are longer and stronger than usual, while their indexes are significantly smaller, making geladas a unique species. And, in fact, they do not share family ancestry with baboons , but are the last of the Theropitecus line.
Their anatomy is in line with their most distinctive feature: they are the only monkeys on the planet that feed entirely on plants . While baboons or baboons become capable of hunting antelope, most primates usually include in their diet, at least, insects of various kinds and even small invertebrate animals, such as lizards or spiders, which makes them eminently in omnivorous species.
In the Ethiopian region of Guassa , there are around 800 specimens of geladas, one of the largest populations in the world. Faced with deforestation and alteration of the balance between its native fauna and flora that have suffered from a multitude of causes -among them, human action- other parts of the African country, Guassa remains a small oasis where these herbivorous animals manage to thrive. They spend the day climbing trees, reveling in up to 60 types of plants and emitting squeaky little cries. They are one of the primates that uses a greater vocal repertoire when communicating and their lip movement is evidence that facial noises were precursors of human speech. There, they also maintain some tensions with the villagers who inhabit the area, since they are famous for sneaking in and stealing the grass cultivated by the farmers and farmers of the place.
By not ingesting anything that is not of plant origin, geladas consume less energy content than other monkeys , which has influenced that their brain has not developed a large size. They are organized in herds that have hundreds of congeners and several females usually congregate around a single male, since they are not monogamous animals at all . Males tend to fight fiercely with each other, flaunting their creepy teeth.
Despite everything, there is still a huge lack of knowledge about the geladas and their lifestyle. After the civil war that took place in Ethiopia in the 1970s, it would take about twenty years for the scientific community to once again launch itself into investigating the alpine areas of the country. So for now, you can keep asking yourself questions about the only herbivorous monkey on Earth.
