Photo Friday: Bonding with a Baboon

I think they saw me as the food truck. What with the wheeled conveyance and all.

We went to the zoo and no matter where we went, the animals would pop up their heads and look at me with interest. Not the “oh, look — Meals on Wheels” kind of interest, but with clear anticipation.

Well, except for the cougar. The cougar had issues with me. First it ran away, then it got aggressive and hissed at me. Maybe its last meal was off?

But the cougar is not the star of the show today. The stars were the baboons. One baboon in particular.

I haven’t been to see that the villains in a couple of decades and they have a fantastic new (to me) enclosure. Lots of space and stimulating features. For the people, there are two large windows looking into the enclosure and I’m pretty sure that mostly, the baboons ignore us.

Most of the troop were occupied and often interacting. They were messing around at the stream, grooming, or fighting for dominance. Busy guys.

And then we get to the second window and see this.

Yes, that’s my foot. We were close.

I spent a long time sitting at that window and there was some bonding going on. Every time I moved, she —  I assumed it was a she —  looked at me, and then I looked at her and we had a moment. Lots of moments.

I wondered why she was all the way up there, all by herself, while everyone else were around each other. I wondered if she were the outcast of the group or had sought refuge from a very dominant and set-on-proving-it male. Or maybe it was all too much. Maybe she just wanted some peace and quiet.

I called her — him? — Ferdinand. Like the classic children’s story.

I mean, look at this face, won’t you? She’s just lovely.

(ignore the smudges from visitor hands. Next time we’re bringing wipes)