Tasmania Zoo has welcomed four Hamadryas baboons in time for the summer holidays. Video by Aaron Smith and Paul Scambler (13/12/24)
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00:00So we've just received a group of four Hamadryas baboons from Queensland.
00:04They arrived almost two weeks ago now and they're settling in really nicely for us.
00:08Our group have been together for nearly 15 years now, so they've gotten to know each other quite
00:14well. They get along really, really well. They're not as interactive with the public,
00:19which is probably beneficial because they're not always the friendliest of species anyway.
00:23But yeah, they get along really well with each other. We normally see around 15 up to 20 years,
00:28but our male here, he's actually 27 years old. So he's quite an old boy and I believe he's
00:33actually the oldest baboon in Australia. Yeah, so the boys are normally anywhere between five
00:38to 10 kilos heavier than the girls, have big bushy hair around their head, really big and
00:42striking animal. So the reason they're a lot bigger is because he's in charge of his little
00:46group of girls, so he needs to be big and impressive to keep them all on side with him.
00:50These guys, this is their permanent home, so they'll be here forever. This is kind of a bit
00:55of a quiet time for them now. They've done a lot of breeding. We're still hoping to see
00:59some babies from the younger female, but yeah, a bit more of a relaxing,
01:04less kids around environment for them.