Ugh. "Boo at the Zoo" (Our annual Halloween human event) means that Hamadryas Baboons and Mandrills don't go on exhibit becuase people in certain costumes can spook them. No telling what these primates are capable of as far as escape routes if they are provoked enough. Because of this, Phx Zoo protocol requires that they remain in the nighthouse for the duration of "Boo".
Staying in the night house stalls all day and being shifted from one stall to the next so keepers can clean results in very stressed out animals. I happened to have the camera with me and was able to capture a few of the tense moments. This turned out to be a very educational day though, a great learning experience.
...Had to put my beautiful Ankavia picture on first. She is the big bully of the female lemurs and I can't stand how she beats up on poor Comet - still her and I seem to be building quite a friendship when I'm out on the island. She is a lovely animal.
Hehe, and of course one of the timid boys (blue ear tag, don't know his name yet) hangin out on the branch looking for banana handouts. Please excuse the cheesy photoshop effects - the product of two beers and a little boredom.
Above, is our male Mandrill, Spock. He has complete control over the two females (Wucaria and Pearl). His disposition is unpleasant at best. He would just as soon maul you as look at you and threatens to do so every chance he gets - even after you give him a bannana and think you have appealed to his gentler side. That's just not the case, primates such as these don't mess around with such things. Dominance and their social order is everything to them.
Going into one night house stall with Spock just behind a flimsy metal door (pounding said door with all of his strength every so often just to remind us he's still there...) is a frightening experience to say the least. Not a pleasant animal, but I do feel sorry for him - the only reason he is that way is because in his early days, he was terribly mistreated due mostly to lack of knowledge on how to properly care for non-human primates. He is also extremely sexually frustrated right now since niether of the females are in estrus. Several times he has been observed, ahem...taking care of things by himself while on exhibit in front of impressionable children. Heh, the things animals do.
Above is Wucaria. She recently turned 31...very old for a Mandrill. In the wild they typically only live 15 to 20 years.
Wucaria
Debbie is giving Wucaria prune juice to try and make her feel better because she has spondalosis
(a degenerative spinal chord condition).
One of the Hamadryas girls, I still have't learned to tell them apart yet so I don't know for sure which one this is. Sort of a symbolic pic of her though, sitting in there with that pumkin...she doesn't look very happy :-(
Kenny. Male Hamadryas Baboon. You can see all the papers and boxes they tore up.
Some Cownose Rays swim by. We have 40 of them this year at Stingray Bay, along with some Nurse and Bamboo Sharks.
One of the Southern Stingray girls :-) Beautiful.
