Males are distinguished from females by their larger size, mane and canines. At first, females carry their young on their stomachs, but after about a month the young infant rides jockey style on the mother's back near the tail. Female baboons form dominance hierarchies, in which the members of the same family assume similar ranks. High-ranking females have greater access to food and sometimes have more offspring. The hierarchies of males are not so clear cut and depend less on their mothers' rank than on such factors as fighting ability and age.
Fertile females develop large pink swellings on their rears which signal receptivity.
A very common monkey here, indeed throughout woodlands in East Africa, is the vervet monkey . The vervet is a small monkey with a black face, white cheek tufts and gray fur. Male vervets are easily identified by their azure blue scrotum. Vervets feed on insects, fruit, leaves and seeds and may also eat young birds and eggs. Their social structure is similar to baboons, although vervet groups are territorial and defend their ranges against nearby groups.