‘It’s almost like cabin fever’
Baboons deal with in-fighting, hormones, external agitations
On a hot Thursday last September, workers at the Toronto Zoo were making a racket as they unloaded barriers to set up a finish line for the Oasis Zoorun, a race that sees thousands of participants make their way past animal exhibits at the sprawling facility.
The noise was agitating the beleaguered baboon troop nearby, riling up already high- strung members of the group.
It took nearly 45 minutes that night for the olive baboons to leave the outdoor area of their exhibit and mosey into the house where they sleep, according to medical records obtained by The Canadian Press.
It was the same story the following night, with staff citing the race set-up and hot weather as potential reasons for the uneasy behaviour, documents show.
The tensions around the time of the race were just one example of the issues the zoo has to deal with when it comes to managing the baboon group plagued by vicious in-fighting for the past three years.
There have been battle wounds that required surgery, hormone therapy to control unruly females and ongoing enhancements to the enclosure, all in an attempt to keep the group stable and help some members survive each other.
The baboons’ captivity, records and experts suggest, has exacerbated problems that might dissipate in the wild.
“Baboons are naturally suspicious and wary of weird things,” said Brent Huffman, one of the troop’s keepers, who notes that the animals’ combative nature goes into overdrive if weather or other factors keep them cooped up indoors. “It’s almost like cabin fever. It increases the social tensions.”
In October, not too long after the race, the baboons refused to enter their indoor enclosure for the better part of a week, Huffman said. It turned out construction material was lodged on top of the chain-link roof of their private yard so the group stayed outside and away from the noise caused by the rattling debris, he said.
Such external factors are compounded by the fighting that has rocked the troop as the females battle for supremacy.
Currently, Molly, whose dead mother used to be the baboon queen, languishes at the bottom of the troop’s hierarchy. The rightful heir is fat, permanently disfigured with a weepy eye and a surgically shortened tail — and has even been attacked by her own sister, Susan. Molly has been injured at least 25 times over the past three years, according to medical records.
In the wild, Molly and Susan might mate and grow their family, biding their time before taking another run at the crown when their family’s numbers increase. But that won’t happen at the Toronto Zoo because the baboon males, who are either their brothers, half-brothers or their father, cannot reproduce due to sterilization.
The troop is currently ruled by Kalamata, who emerged as queen in the baboons’ own game of thrones in 2016, shortly after the zoo decided to intervene with hormone implants to curtail the animals’ violent behaviour. Once the doormat, she had a meteoric rise with the backing of her aging mother, Putsie, and her sisters Kristina and Kate.
Kalamata is now the first to eat grapes, bananas and zucchini, a sure sign of her dominance, staff say.
The troop’s delicate hierarchy, however, necessitates frequent intervention by staff.
“With their restricted space, the olive baboons are fighting more,” reads a note in Molly’s records. “Clumps of hair missing on several, bite wounds on Molly.”
Huffman noted, however, the zoo’s interventions have helped.
“With the hormonal treatments, the baboons have figured out their hierarchy and we’re trying to help them maintain that,” he said.