Baboons And Lemurs at the Zoo

by Rinya Singh

At our first Honey Badger meeting of the year on Saturday,we had lots of fun.We first went to the Education Centre near where we saw a lemur in an enclosure and it was in a sitting position on a branch of a tree , all posed for a picture but when none of us took a photograph,it put its arms back on the branch and slumped back down as if it was dejected.

We put our bags down in the Education Centre and were told about the plan of the day.We would visit the animal hospital,the baboons enclosure and the lemurs enclosure in the end.The plan sounded very exciting and adventurous.

We then headed to the kitchen and got the food for the baboons which was dried fruit,mealworms( which looked disgusting),a jar of peanut butter,raisins,a huge bag of popcorns,strawberries and some bamboo sticks.We put some of the snacks inside the bamboo sticks.We also got three big empty bottles.We then went to the animal hospital and saw the outdoor cages which held a few rabbits,a sstork,some ferrets and a few hedgehogs.Once inside the hospital,we saw a caracal.Imelda,one of our troupe leaders,told us that a few of the animals were not sick but just there for temporary accommodation.We then went inside where the small animals were recovering after an operation.

There was a twelve year old female ferret .She is special as ferrets are normally known to live upto eleven years.She just had had an operation the day before,the 8th of January.I hope she is still alive when I go on my next visit to the zoo.

After seeing the ferret and a bush-baby or it was an aye-aye,I don’t know for sure as they both seem to look alike,we then went out and saw about four caracals and a monkey.Imelda didn’t let us go into the place where the baby reptiles were kept.
I and a few other Honey Badgers went to the rabbits cage outside.Jane,another of our troupe leaders , took out one of the cute little rabbits while Imelda and the rest of us went to try and get the other ferret out of its outdoor cage.I held and felt the rabbit.Its front paw’s claws dug into my left hand.It hurt a lot! Imelda and the others weren’t so lucky as they didn’t find the other ferret.We then went to the hedgehog’s outdoor cage and it was rolled up like a ball.

Jane took one of them out.I didn’t hold it but touched it’s spines.They didn’t feel spiky ,they only felt hard.We then planned to go to the baboon’se enclosure but Imelda received a call on her walkie – talkie that the person who was to open the baboon’s enclosure for us would come after a while as he was busy fixing the electric fence of the gorilla’s enclosure. We had to have our lunch break then .After our lunch break, we went to the baboon’s enclosure without putting our bags down! At the enclosure, we had to climb down a ladder to get inside. There was a huge jungle-gym inside. It was fun to climb the stone steps to the top and hide bamboo sticks with dried fruit, popcorn ,raisins, strawberries and peanut butter inside them . A few of the older boys filled the big bottles with some of the snacks , mostly popcorn .

We were having so much fun , we didn’t want to leave! But after we did , the baboons were let out. They started finding the food . After that we went to the lemur’s enclosure in the ferry. Once we were there , Sharon, the lady who worked with the lemurs,came to help us . Imelda told us to be quiet once we were inside . She also gave us one quarter of a strawberry and three raisins to feed the lemurs . I was lucky enough to be among the first five who went inside first! When one of the lemurs pushed my hand down a bit to get at the food, I got scared and dropped the fruit. One of the lemurs actually let me and another kid rub it’s back! It’s fur was soft and rough at the same time. I didn’t know that my mom was clicking photographs from far away in the zoo so now I have some photos too.

After everybody had a turn , we went back to the Centre and made bookmarks by sticking cut out pictures of animals ,glitter ,the zoo stickers and wax colours.We then went home . It has been the best experience so far.