Studying the diet and feeding behavior of primates is essential to understanding their ecology and designing effective conservation plans. Despite decades of study on the hamadryas baboon (Papio hamadryas) in lowland habitats, little is known about the feeding ecology of this species in highland ecosystems. To address this empirical gap, we tracked temporal changes in vegetation abundance and their relation to the dietary choices of hamadryas baboons in highland habitat at Borena-Sayint National Park (BSNP) in northern Ethiopia. We performed behavioral scan sampling on a focal study band of 21–37 hamadryas baboons over a 12-month period. We found that mature and young leaves were the most abundant plant parts throughout the year, while fruits and flowers were the least abundant, with significant seasonal variation that followed the bimodal pattern of rainfall characteristic of the Ethiopian highlands ecosystem. The annual diet of hamadryas baboons at BSNP consisted mostly of fruits (32.0%) and graminoid blades (21.2%), and included 52 food species across 22 families of plants and three families of animals. Food raided from nearby farms accounted for 8.8% of their diet. The availability of fruits and flowers was positively correlated with their consumption, suggesting that these are preferred foods, whereas graminoid blades, and other leaves, appeared to be less preferred foods. The feeding ecology of hamadryas baboons at BSNP differs considerably from that of lowland populations. The well-studied lowland hamadryas baboons in Awash National Park obtain much of their diet from Acacia species and palm fruit, whereas those at BSNP, where Acacia trees are rare and palms are absent, relied on Olinia rochetiana and Rosa abyssinica for a combined 27% of their annual diet. The reliance of hamadryas baboons at BSNP on cultivated crops for nearly one-tenth of their diet leads to conflict with humans and warrants more detailed study so that this issue can be addressed in conservation plans for the area.

研究灵长类动物的饮食和摄食行为对于了解其生态和设计有效的保护计划至关重要。尽管对低地栖息地的狒狒（狒狒）进行了数十年的研究，但人们对该物种在高地生态系统中的摄食生态知之甚少。为了解决这一经验差距，我们追踪了埃塞俄比亚北部博雷纳-萨因特国家公园（BSNP）高地栖息地植被丰度的时间变化及其与狒狒饮食选择的关系。我们在 12 个月的时间里对 21-37 只狒狒狒狒的重点研究群体进行了行为扫描采样。我们发现，成熟和幼嫩的叶子是全年最丰富的植物部分，而果实和花朵是最不丰富的，具有显着的季节变化，遵循埃塞俄比亚高原生态系统降雨特征的双峰模式。BSNP 狒狒的年度饮食主要包括水果（32.0%）和禾本科植物叶片（21.2%），包括 22 个植物科和 3 个动物科的 52 种食物。从附近农场抢来的食物占他们饮食的8.8%。水果和花朵的可用性与其消费量呈正相关，表明这些是首选食物，而禾本科植物叶片和其他叶子似乎不是首选食物。BSNP 狒狒的摄食生态与低地种群有很大不同。经过深入研究，阿瓦什国家公园的低地狒狒狒狒的大部分食物来自金合欢树和棕榈果，而 BSNP 的狒狒（金合欢树稀有且没有棕榈树）则依靠Olinia rochetiana和Rosa abyssinica获取总计 27% 的食物。他们每年的饮食。BSNP 的狒狒近十分之一的饮食依赖于栽培作物，这导致了与人类的冲突，需要进行更详细的研究，以便在该地区的保护计划中解决这个问题。