Tenderness
Zimbabwe, Africa
A female baboon gives birth every other year, usually to a single infant after a six-month gestation. The newborn baboon has the typical young primates’ ingrained gripping reflex. It is able to hold itself against its mother’s belly, with tightly grasping hands and feet, almost immediately after birth. This strong grip enables the infant to help its mother carry it all day as it clings to the fur. Mother and infant have a strong bond, exhibited in this image of an olive baboon and her infant, in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park. She gently nestles the infant and looks down at it tenderly as it nurses.
Care of a baboon infant usually comes primarily from its mother, who is the infant’s only source of nutrition until the infant can forage on its own. Primate milk is not very rich and infants need to drink frequently throughout the day to obtain enough nutrition to survive and grow. After only a few weeks an infant can climb, and it immediately begins playing and exploring for food. A mother’s weaning of an infant from her milk is a protracted affair, generally done amid protests and temper tantrums by her infant.
While the mother tends to be the primary caregiver, several females will share in those duties. Mothers with lots of female friends are the most successful parents. Baboon mothers who formed networks of female friends were about a third more successful at raising their young than were females who spent more time alone or isolated. If a baboon survives to one year it has a strong chance of making it to adulthood and breeding. Photo © copyright by Dr. Edward Mikol.
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