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BABOON (from the Fr. babuin, which is...

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 96 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BABOON (from the Fr. babuin, which is itself derived from Babon, the
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Egyptian deity to whom it was sacred)
  , properly the designation of the long-muzzled,
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medium-tailed
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Egyptian
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monkey, scientifically known as Papio anubis; in a wider sense applied to all the members of the genus Papio (formerly known as Cynocephalus) now confined to Africa and
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Arabia, although in past times extending into India . Baboons are for the most
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part large terrestrial monkeys with short or medium-sized tails, and long naked
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dog-like muzzles, in the truncated extremity of which are pierced the nostrils . As a
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rule, they frequent barren rocky districts in large droves, and are exceedingly fierce and dangerous to approach . They have large cheek-pouches, large naked callosities, often brightly coloured, on the buttocks, and short thick limbs, adapted rather to walking than to climbing . Their
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diet includes practically everything eatable they can capture or kill . The typical representative of the genus is the yellow baboon (P. cynocephalus, or babuin), distinguished by its small
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size and grooved muzzle, and ranging from Abyssinia to the
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Zambezi . The above-mentioned anubis baboon, P. anubis (with the subspecies neumanni, pruinosus, heuglini and doguera), ranging from
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Egypt all through tropical Africa, together with P. sphinx, P. olivaceus, the Abyssinian P. lydekkeri, and the
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chacma, P. porcarius of the Cape, represent the subgenus Choeropithecus . The named Arabian baboon, P. hamadryas of North Africa and Arabia, dedicated by the ancient Egyptians to the
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god
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Thoth, and the South Arabian P. arabicus, typify Hamadryas; while the
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drill and mandrill of the west coast, P. leucophaeus and P. maimon, constitute the subgenus Maimon . The anubis baboons, as shown by the frescoes, were tamed by the ancient Egyptians and trained to
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pluck sycamore-
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figs from the trees . (See PRIMATES; CHACMA; DRILL;
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GELADA and MANDRILL) . (R .

End of Article: BABOON (from the Fr. babuin, which is itself derived from Babon, the Egyptian deity to whom it was sacred)
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