Honest pointy primate

Straight-horned Baboon, Ceratogyrus marshalli.....apparently these guys get the tallest horn of any of the horned baboons. This is a juvenile female so the horn is only a stump at the mo

Very.. Um.. Nice Karl. Lol... They're lovely to look at those baboons, but I still have more than a healthy respect for them myself!

Some lovely colours going on with that girl. Not one for me but you go...ehh guy!

Can I ask why they have those horns, what purpose do they serve?

Lovely.....but be carefull!!!!!

A healthy respect is essential - Pokies and baboons are my fav T's to date and they certainly keep you on high alert.

Tan, the easy answer regarding the 'horn' is that no-one knows for sure. A more in-depth answer involves speculation but some good speculation at that...

...the best theory I've heard is that the 'horn' serves no external function but plays a role in internal anatomy. Often a T in the wild will want to eat its prey as quickly as possible, because during mastication their weapons (fangs) are pre-occupied with the eating process. Its proposed that the horned baboons reduce their risk of vunerabilty during feeding by being able to eat faster than other T's - the 'horn' in the centre of their carapace creates a large surface area internally where muscles that connect to the pumping / sucking stomach are anchored. This enables them to suck-up their pre-digested prey at a faster rate and so they are able to feed more quickly than many other T's.

To the best of my knowledge this hasn't been tested in reality and very limited anatomical study has been done to back it up - but its a very valid theory which, I believe, originated from Rick West who is one of the top arachnologists in the U.S.

Thanks for all the info Karl. Interesting stuff to say the least.