THE WILD GUIDE The Chacma Baboon

With its coarse dark fur, and long ‘hangdog’ face the Chacma Baboon is an easily recognisable bushveld inhabitant. Less well known is the origin of its name. The word “chacma” is derived from the Khoikhoi name for baboon, , possibly onomatopoeic for their barking call; whilst the word baboon is derived from the French babouin, a name given to them by French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (Whew! No wonder he is referred and the southern clades.