They walk quadrupedally, but can stand bipedally to survey the landscape. Troop size can vary, but can get quite large. All live in a multimale-multifemale social structure, where males fiercely defend the group. Hamadryas and guinea baboons have fission-fusion communities in which the basic units are a male and several females. Baboons will normally sleep in large troops, no matter what their foraging patterns, in some high place where they are protected from predators.
All baboons have strong dominance hierarchies where ranks are inherited from the females.
Females outnumber male group members, though males tend to be dominant, herding females around and determining their foraging direction. Males will often, though not always, emigrate. In hamadryas baboons it is the females that leave their natal troop. Males may change troops more than once in the course of their lives. Baboons, particularly savanna baboons, have been well-studied, and complex social systems have been reported.