A-B-O blood groups of two subspecies of chacma baboon (Papio ursinus) in South Africa.

A study was made of the distribution of the A-B-O blood groups in two subspecies of baboons, Papio ursinus orientalis and P.u. occidentalis. The former had a significantly higher frequency of the A gene. Although there was no baboon of group O in either sample, the results for P.u. orientalis were consistent with the postulate that there was an amorphic O gene of low frequency as well as the genes A and B. For P.u. occidentalis the results suggested the presence of only two genes A and B.