Baboons live mostly on the ground but sleep in such places as trees or cliffs. Several kinds of baboons live in Africa and southwestern Arabia. These include the hamadryas baboon, which lives on plains and rocky hills of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and eastern Africa near the Red Sea, and the chacma baboon, which inhabits rocky regions and open woodlands in southern Africa. Male hamadryas baboons have long, gray hair on the head and shoulders. Chacma baboons have grayish-brown body hair and a long ruff of hair around the neck.
Males occasionally kill mammals and share the meat with other group members.
Baboons live in groups of from 10 to 200 animals. A majority of the groups have more females than males. Groups are ruled by several large males. Hamadryas baboons live in harems composed of one male and several females and their young. A large number of harems band together to form large groups.