Born Free

Category: Lilongwe Wildlife Centre | Date: Nov 24 2008 | By: bornfree

Hello blogsters.

Well, the Olive baboons are settling in well and are coming close to the end of their quarantine period. We have, however, been able to introduce one of the pairs named Jack and Jill (we had two pairs and a group of four in three separate night rooms) into the night room with the group of four and things went very well. So, now these six baboons can move around the two night rooms and stretch their legs a bit more, so to speak. We had expected a bit of a stand-off with the two larger males but they got on fine. It was two of the females who were a bit antsy but they soon sorted things out and now the group make an impressive bunch. It is our plan to eventually introduce them to the other pair and then all eight of them can live as one large troop.

On a different note let me introduce you to our latest rescues. They are two tiny, tiny bush babies. One of our education team was taking a tour group around the Centre when suddenly something fell out of a tree just outside our perimeter fence. On inspection it was identified as an adult bush baby. A group of children had been chasing her and she had lost her footing and fallen, probably breaking her neck. The children ran away at this point when we intervened but shortly afterwards we heard the cries of her babies looking for her. They were coming down from the tree tops straight into danger. Luckily for them our team were there to take them in. They are so small they were still suckling. So out came our collection of small dolls’ bottles (yes, dolls!) - human baby bottles are too big!

The two babies, now called Barack and Obama (no less!) are being cared for night and day, thanks to our team of carers and volunteers and are slowly building up their body weight and are just starting to climb out of their box and start exploring the world.

Bush babies, mostly nocturnal, are a little similar to humans in that they need to stay with their parents for up to nearly a year before they are strong and wise enough to set off on their own, so you can imagine how much time and care that will be needed to help these two little chaps find their feet in the world.

Once again, please keep you donations coming, every little bit helps us to help rescued babies like these.  For more information you can visit our website at http://www.lilongwewildlife.org/.

 Many thanks, Lee

Tags: bush baby, Lilongwe Wildlife Centre, olive baboon, rescue