_Theropithecus obscurus_, Heuglin, Act. Acad. Leop., xxx., Nachtrag, p.
10 (1863); Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 107 (1876).
_? Theropithecus senex_, Schimper et Puch., Rev. Zool., 1857, p. 244.
{279}CHARACTERS.--Nearly allied to _T. gelada_, but distinguished by its
darker colour, the flesh-coloured ring round the eyes, and the two naked
spots on the chest at the base of the neck, surrounded by white hairs,
extending to the inner side of the arm.
Face naked, the chin thinly haired, the nose-pad situated behind the blunt
and broad end of the muzzle; eyes small, set close together, deep sunk
beneath the prominent overhanging frontal ridges; ears small; sides of the
head entirely covered with woolly hair; mane long, soft, and thick. Length
of body, 53 inches; tail, 26 inches.
Face black, but with a broad flesh-coloured ring round each eye; scanty
hairs on the chin white; top of head and back dark brown; mane on fore-neck
and shoulders, arms, and hind part of the hands pure black; sides of head
and neck, rump, and tail dirty ochre; naked spots on breast dark
flesh-coloured, more vivid in passion; breast and inner side of fore-arm,
and middle of chest white; rest of under surface pale brown. Callosities
bluish-grey.
FEMALE AND YOUNG.--Almost uniform fulvous, but the mane less marked.
DISTRIBUTION.--North-east Africa; on the eastern boundary of Abyssinia,
near the sources of the Takazze river, on the confines of the Galla
country. Dr. Blanford observed it also near Magdala.
HABITS.--This large and "stately" Baboon, known to the natives as
"Tokur-Sinjero" (or Black Baboon), lives in large troops in the high
mountains of Abyssinia, at an altitude of from 6,000 to 10,000 feet. It is
seldom seen among trees, but generally in open plains, or in inaccessible
rocky cliffs, from which it hurls stones on anyone who dares to approach.
{280}During the night these Baboons hide together in holes in the rocks,
whence, on the return of the morning sun, they emerge and sit warming
themselves, before starting on their marauding expeditions in the
cultivated fields, or in the vegetation which clothes the sides of the deep
valleys, where they feed largely on the leaves of the trees. Their
disposition is, among themselves, harmless. As a rule two to six year old
males lead with grave strides a herd of twenty to thirty females and young,
the latter now playing with each other, and scampering about the troop, now
carried by their mothers, and sometimes pinched and boxed on the ears by
them. As soon as, but not before, the leader has assured himself of any
danger, he utters a gentle bark, to which the whole troop responds and
retreats back into safety among the rocks. The old males then stand on
their hind-feet barking and displaying to the intruder their long white
teeth. On their marauding expeditions, or when in flight, they do not
usually exhibit great haste, the whole troop generally going in single file
with an old Sultan bringing up the rear. Often several troops mingle
together during the day, but at nightfall each returns to its own
headquarters.
Their cry is a sharp bark, but that of the old males is very hoarse. One of
their great enemies is the Lämmergeier or Bearded Vulture.
These observations have been extracted from the account given of this
species by von Heuglin, who discovered it during his Abyssinian expedition
in 1853.