PH
Remember how your toddler got fixated on a tiny toy, carrying it everywhere and refusing to let it go?
Karen Paolillo of the Turgwe Hippo Trust in Zimbabwe has seen a tiny baboon doing just that with two or three small rocks.
“Rocksie” – as Paolillo has nicknamed her – carries her “pet” rocks with her wherever she goes.
“Rocksie has been carrying rocks for at least three months,” Paolillo told News24.
There may be a very good reason for that: Rocksie’s mum had another baby around three months ago.
Rocksie is between one year and 18 months old and lives in the drought-hit Save Valley Conservancy in southern Zimbabwe, says Paolillo.
Said the author and avid hippo lover: “Rocksie is part of the troop that live with us visiting our house every day. We have over 50 that live with us.”
Paolillo’s photo of Rocksie on the Turgwe Hippo Trust’s Facebook page shows the baboon being groomed by her mother while the new baby looks on.
In other pictures, Rocksie is seen scampering around, determinedly carrying her rocks.
Paolillo says this is the first time she has noticed this behaviour in a young baboon.
The gestation period for a baboon in southern Africa is around six months. Females give birth to a single baby. Baboons can live for up to 45 years.
