Baboon babies

One afternoon in The Gambia we ran into a large troop of Guinea Baboons, Papio papio . This is the smallest species of baboon, weighing a maximum of about 26Kg or 57lbs, and is classified as Near Threatened because it is found in only a relatively small area of West Africa (including The Gambia, Senegal, Guinea, southern Mauritania and western Mali), and its habitat is under threat. Their fur is crimped, making them look fuzzy, and posing a challenge to photographers.

There were lots of young ones in this group, and they were a delight to watch. This looked like a real newborn, being investigated by an adult female. The adult on the right is a male. They are larger and have a sort of mane around the head and shoulders:

The males are more laid back than the males of other baboon species, being more willing to share females, and forming friendships with other males, The little ones hung onto their mothers’ bellies, allowing them to suckle as they hitched a ride.

The adults kept a careful eye on the smallest babies, making sure they didn’t get left behind as the troupe moved past us:

Sometimes they rode on their mother’s backs, like tiny jockeys:

They are remarkably independent from the get-go. This one, who the guide said was only 2 or 3 days old, suddenly stood up, ran along his mother’s spine, and jumped off over her head:

Like all baby animals, a lot of time is spent in play. Also, notice the big male on the right of the group of adults, and his “mane”:

This whole group of maybe 50 baboons moved through the forest, flowing around us, parting only minimally to get past us while we stayed still.

On a different day, we were on the river passing a semi-abandoned park with broad steps cascading down to the water, and another big baboon group was in residence. They sunbathed, and groomed each other: