- Title: ISRAEL: Israeli safari zoo welcomes an 'orange' baby baboon, a rarity in nature
- Date: 10th February 2011
- Summary: RAMAT GAN, ISRAEL (FEBRUARY 8, 2011) (REUTERS) BABOONS SITTING IN ZOO MOTHER BABOON NURSING BABY NEWBORN ORANGE BABOON BEING FED BY ITS MOTHER MOTHER BABOON ORANGE BABOON FIDGETING (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRIMATE KEEPER AT SAFARI ZOO, YAEL BAKER, SAYING: "Skad our twenty-year-old baboon gave birth to an orange baby and we just today discovered it's actually a female ba
- Embargoed: 25th February 2011 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel, Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Nature / Environment,Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVA2XJN6375IGV16YDJO8IMIC2MD
- Story Text: Zoo workers at the Ramat Gan Safari, near Tel Aviv were extremely surprised with the birth of a orange-coloured baby baboon.
Ginger furred baboons are considered very rare and the event was cause for celebration at the zoo.
"Skad our twenty-year-old baboon gave birth to an orange baby and we just today discovered it's actually a female baby and we are very happy because it's been thirty years since we last had an orange baboon here," primate keeper Yael Baker told Reuters television.
Along with all other primates, baboons are protected species according to the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
Adult baboons sit in small groups grooming each other while the juveniles play. They then form a cohesive unit that moves off in a column of two or three, walking until they begin feeding.
"You can see next to her Shapira, who's her mate, and he is the father of the baby. He's taking very good care of both of them, he's very protective, he grooms her," Baker said.
Males often help to defend a female and her offspring. Baboons' favourite pastime is combing and picking lice from each others fur.
Baboons, with their distinctive long dog-like muzzles and heavy powerful jaws, are omnivorous, but usually prefer fruit. In the wild, they live in close-knit social groups.
For the first month, an infant baboon stays in very close contact with its mother. The mother carries the infant next to her stomach as she travels, holding it with one hand. By the time the young baboon is 5 to 6 weeks old it can ride on her back, hanging on by all four limbs.
The new addition to the zoo has yet to be named. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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