Summer 2025 (or winter 2025 in South Africa) was an exciting time for the Nature’s Valley Baboon Project!

Co-directors Drs. Kris Sabbi and Margaret Bryer brought four undergraduates from the US to work with our third co-director Dr. Hendri Coetzee and our research team on the ground, Carla van Hasselt and Nicolas Marais, to learn behavioral data collection and conduct independent projects. Student projects included looking at baboon activity budgets before and after a wildlife-proof bin intervention; examining how much of the baboons’ diets are composed of indigenous vs. invasive plant species; how grooming dynamics change before and after a group fusion; and examining plant food availability for baboons in Nature’s Valley.

The Nature’s Valley Baboon Project is under the umbrella of the Nature’s Valley Trust’s Forest Program. For more information about Nature’s Valley Trust, see their website: https://naturesvalleytrust.co.za/

A chacma baboon in Nature’s Valley, South Africa, eating Curtisia dentata fruits.
Pictured are some members of the Nature’s Valley Baboon Project 2025 (left to right): Dr. Margaret Bryer (UW-Madison, co-director), Carla van Hasselt (University of Glasgow), Nicolas Marais (Nature’s Valley Trust), Gabby Ralphe (UW-Madison), Sarah Zhang (Boston University), Isabelle Anderson (UW-Madison), and Gabrielle Mostow (Harvard). Team members not pictured: Dr. Hendri Coetzee (NVT director and NVBP co-director), Dr. Kris Sabbi (Harvard and NVBP co-director), and Dr. Rudi Swart (NVT Forest Program manager).