Chacma Baboon Approach Behavior Data from Gorongosa National Park, 2018-2019

Jana Muschinski from the University of Oxford provides a dataset of 341 proximity events for chacma baboons (Papio ursinus griseipes). The data records presence/absence of approach behaviors where one baboon moved within 2 meters of another, collected from video footage filmed in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, between 2018 and 2019. Video coding was performed between 2020 and 2021 using BORIS software, with data cleaned and formatted into a matrix using Python and R.

Use Cases

• Analyzing social network structures based on dyadic approach events.
• Modeling presence/absence patterns in animal social behavior.
• Studying the frequency and distribution of proximity events within a primate troop.

Strengths

• Data is based on 341 specific observational events, providing a concrete sample size.
• Collection methodology is documented, citing specific ethograms and software (BORIS).
• Data has undergone a cleaning and formatting process using Python 3.8.5 and R 4.0.5.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown beyond the 341 observations, which may limit suitability assessment for some analyses.

Provenance

Source

Paleo-Primate Project, Gorongosa National Park

Collection Method

Video footage coded with BORIS software, then cleaned and formatted into a presence/absence matrix.

Time Range

Video footage filmed 2018-10 to 2018-11 and 2019-07 to 2019-11.

Geography

Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique