Today is a big day for the Unruly Natures project: We are finally ready to share some of the findings from the survey that was conducted last year! Academic research moves slowly, and we are still analysing the bulk of the data and expect to submit multiple articles to peer-reviewed journals. However, some of the data we have collected is relatively straightforward and for the sake of transparency we have chosen to make this public sooner rather than later.
We are sharing this in two forms: a set of five infographics, and a longer report. The infographics are images with short summaries of key findings, and a link to the main report on our website. The idea with these summaries is that they can be shared on social media and groups where human-baboon relations are discussed. For those interested in knowing more details and understanding how the study was conducted, the full report gives an overview of that without too much academic jargon.
We hope that you will find the findings so far interesting and useful. To residents, much of it will probably not be surprising – after all, what we have tried to capture is your experiences and views! However, there is a range of these, and hopefully the report helps give everyone a sense of where they sit in relation to others. You can find it all on under our new Outputs tab.
Unruly Natures Project 
Very interesting and informative Report which was consie and easy to read with good graphics.
Finding #1 – Encounters are becoming more common and worse.
What are the reasons for this increase in frequency and severity? Surely this is absolutely critical to understand and appreciate when developing appropriate management strategies?
An increase in baboon numbers is an accepted reality based on the data being collected by the researchers. Yet this fact doesn’t appear to have been included as one of the possible options in the survey for the development of Finding # 3 (Causes of negative interactions).
It seems fairly logical that an increase in baboon numbers will be a (significant) contributor to the increase in encounter frequency and severity.
Thank you for sharing these reflections, I’m glad you found the report interesting!
Both your questions are very valid. Regarding the second one, we tried to avoid including options that have underlying assumptions in them. Asking people whether “Increasing baboon numbers” are causing problems or not, assumes that numbers are increasing. This might be the case for the Peninsula as a whole, but it is not the case in every neighbourhood (some troops move away from one area to another, others have declined in numbers or remained stable for various reasons). So to avoid any assumptions, we instead included “Baboon troop dynamics” as an option. It is not a perfect solution, but it is the kind of compromises we have to make to keep the survey from getting too long.
Regarding your first question: Yes, understanding why residents experience an increase in encounters is probably very important! We hope to unpack this a little more moving forward, as it touches on the type of “Why?” and “How?” questions that require deeper analysis of the data we have collected. Some clues might be found in the open-ended questions we asked, which will be examined in coming articles and briefs that we will also share. However, to fully understand if, how, and where encounters are increasing (or decreasing, as some residents report), would require a more in-depth study that also looks at baboon population dynamics – which is outside our field of expertise.
I hope this is helpful!
Johan
Thanks for the quick and comprehensive feedback Johan – this is appreciated.
May I suggest that baboon numbers increasing is not an “underlying assumption” – it is a fact based on the data that has been gathered? The recently published Baboon Strategic Managment Plan is quite clear in this regard and some relevant extracts are inserted below.
As the population continues to grow, more frequent encounters will seem to be inevitable, and, unfortunately in all likelihood, increasingly negative.
Thanks again for your quick response 🙂
Preamble
…….The number of incidents of baboons accessing urban space has been exacerbated by the recent growth in the baboon population, which has seen a doubling of numbers in areas such as Constantia, Tokai, Kommetjie, Da Gama and Simon’s Town from 248 individuals in 2006 to 498 in 2022.
Introduction
……On a broad scale, the expansion of the troop ranging areas, as well as the formation of new splinter troops is largely related to the growing baboon population on the Cape Peninsula.
……… baboon population on the Cape Peninsula has reached a status where population numbers have increased significantly, with very limited low-lying wildland space, elevated levels of human-wildlife conflict are experienced, and the effectiveness of applied aversion methods has reduced.
……In order to return the situation to a more sustainable level, management intervention is called for so as to ……. and to manage the population sustainably through removal, including, euthanasia, culling and translocation of baboons when appropriate.
Outcome 1 – Output 1.3
Population control methods are investigated and implemented where appropriate. Associated Actions 1.3.1, 1.3.2 and 1.3.3 all refer.
Absolutely, I am not suggesting that the BSMP is incorrect. What I meant was that even while the overall baboon population is increasing, there can be local variation. For example, several residents told us about sharp rises and falls in baboon activity, which is likely caused by troops moving from one area to another for an extended period of time. From the point of view of a resident that has not read the BSMP or followed overall population assessments, this can be interpreted as a decline in the population. And as we see in our data (Finding #1 in the report), a small number of residents have seen a decline in human-baboon interactions.
A key aim of our work is to understand the nuances that exist in different areas and communities, as well as understanding why some people have very different experiences of what seems to be the same situation. Most of those answers will come further down the line once we have had time to process the rest of the data.