Junior Baboons: July Update

It's been an unsettling time for some of the younger males in the Junior camp, with Marlin, Clyde, and Gus all coming to the dreaded age of castration!





The actual operation is simple enough, but trying to separate the three baboons and remove from the camp proved to be a very difficult task. The older baboons in the camp won't allow the younger ones any human contact if they can, so we tried to separate them and take the older ones on a walk.  Bloomie, Troy, Bakkies, Sarafina, Kayla, and Lala were lured out using bananas and sweets.  However they would not leave for the walk without the rest of the troop and eventually jumped back in. Plan B was to try and distract the older baboons with food whilst sneaking Marlin, Bonnie, Clyde, Gus and Lola but that also proved unsuccessful as they also spotted the food.  As a last resort Rudie darted the three baboons, they were taken to the clinic and the operations were quick and successful.  They spent the night in the clinic to recover and were placed back into the camp the next day, where they were welcomed back by the troop.

It also appears that Bakkies has overtaken Troy for the role of Alpha male and loves the extra food that comes with the position.  Kayla and Lala are also beginning to challenge Sarafina for her position as Beta female, Lala even kicked Sarafina out of a tree on their walk the other day!  Bloomie's position is safe however being three times the size of any of the others.

The other day the Juniors had quite a scare when two of the Big Baboons (Plascon and Maria) decided to jump into the Junior Camp for a visit.  Bloomie, Sarafina, Kayla and Lala were so scared they jumped out of the camp and started running around the school playground, jumping about on the jungle gym.  Luckily all the children were locked safely inside!  After the two Seniors jumped back into their camp, Sarafina, Kayla and Lala jumped straight back into their camp, while Bloomie had to be lured back in with both bananas and chocolate.