Female baboons are known to be attentive and patient mothers and in this scene the gentle cradling of her baby shows a careful touch. Personally I think she has a look of motherly pride about her demeanour. This particular baboon was in her prime when I took this shot in 2009. She was the top ranking female and consort to Fred, the notorious Smitswinkel troop’s Alpha male. This little fellow soon grew up pulling rank in the pecking order and became quite the most precocious of sons.
Keeping home and hearth tidy: the next shot shows a wagtail’s careful ‘house-keeping’ approach in this poop-scoop manoeuvre. Capturing this moment on camera took a lot of patience and split-second timing. By observing the chicks in the nest, I noticed how they presented their ‘rear-ends’ to the parent bird after being fed to offer up the waste package. The nest was kept ‘spotless’ and even after flying the coop the parent birds kept up the practice for some days until the chicks were properly fledged. Neat little creatures!
Head over to the site to check out over examples of Careful in this week’s Photo Challenge.
Nature on the Edge 
Lovely photo and information. 😃
Thanks Sylvia.
Wow…this is great!
Great response to the challenge. Interesting about the wagtails cleaning up even out of nest!
Yes, it’s amazing to see this ‘housekeeping’ behaviour – easier out in the open then the confines of the nest. And the chicks co-operate too.
No matter the theme, that first photo is so cute.
janet
Agreed :)! The bond between mother and child is always a heart-warming scene.
The baboon family photo is wonderful, loved mother and baby, but also the ‘don’t-care’ attitude of the other one, an older brother or sister? Your patience with the wagtails was well rewarded – a geat behavioural image.
Yes, there are definitely gender roles and older sister in this case was hanging around waiting to get a look in on baby. The male juveniles generally hang out together with a lot of rough’n tumble.
Was lucky to observe the wagtail parenting behaviour as the nest is located near the diningroom window and a good opportunity for viewing 🙂
Yes she is one proud mama, and I had no idea about the poop clearing!
🙂 yes such diligence, nature’s a marvel!
yes i agree with you! she is pride!
What a beautiful picture! I love that baboon. She looks.. like a mother. I cannot explain it. She looks almost human. And in my weird mind, if I had been around, I’d be a friend to that baboon 🙂
I know they are dangerous and unpredictable, but I guess I could get along with them. Just the simple rules of the animal kingdom – never stare, never challenge with your eyes, avert your eyes if they lord it over you, be humble, never approach unless they allow you to settle down at a distance, no sudden moves, no standing upright or making yourself larger or taller, no showing teeth hahaha.. and so on and so forth.. but yes, I guess I would have loved to be around there..
Oh I’m happy for this response, that the photo talks. The mothers display such gentleness towards their offspring but surprisingly so do the fathers. This female baboon came to a sad end – she disappeared and there is suspicion of her being poisoned. At the time she had a youngster, a little female who was just weaned. Amazingly this little scrap of a monkey then bonded with the male ‘elder’ of the troop. He cared for her for about a year. It was quite phenomenal to see this little mite clinging to his tummy, or riding jockey style on his back. They’re fascinating sentient creatures with a complex social hierachy. The bad issues only come about through ‘food raiding’ into the suburbs, generally they are kept out though.
So sad that they have to be in conflict situations. In the wild, I guess they’d be a little different. Still territorial, but at least they would have an even chance.