The A‐B‐O blood groups of baboons

Abstract

Abstract A new series of 188 baboons, Papio papio , Senegal, have been tested for the human type A‐B‐O groups with the following results: 2 group O, 27 group A, 93 group B and 66 group AB. This distribution fits the Hardy‐Weinberg formula perfectly, using the allele frequencies O = 10.3%, A = 29.0%, and B = 60.8%. Up to date, five series of baboons comprising a total of 684 animals have been tested for their A‐B‐O groups. On these 684 baboons, from three different species, only three belonged to group O. Nevertheless, there is convincing indirect evidence that in most of the baboon species tested so far the frequency of gene O is about 10%. There are significant differences in the distribution of the blood groups in the various baboon species, comparable to the differences in racial distribution of the A‐B‐O blood groups in man, e.g., the frequency of gene A ranges from 18.2% in Papio ursinus , South Africa, to 48.3% in Papio cynocephalus . The usefulness of the methods of population genetics, viz , allele frequency analysis, for studies of blood groups in primates is demonstrated. The differences and similarities between the A‐B‐O blood groups in man and baboons are discussed.