Orphaned Baby Monkey “Doodle Bob” is Ready for Release! Love Nature
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00:00 Although vervets make up the majority of the primates
00:02 at the Wildlife Center, there are others here,
00:05 including baboons, one of the world's largest monkeys.
00:10 Two-year-old Doodle Bob is a yellow baboon, one
00:13 of the youngest at the center.
00:16 Like so many animals here, he came in as an orphan.
00:19 Doodle's quite the character in the troop.
00:21 He's really playful.
00:23 He's got lots of friends.
00:25 He runs around with Fox, his foster brother, all the time.
00:29 They'll back each other up if there's any fighting or issues.
00:33 So that's really nice to see.
00:34 It's a far cry from when Doodle arrived, shy, scared, and alone.
00:43 He needed round-the-clock care before he was
00:45 fostered by adult female, Kesi.
00:49 At the time, Kesi was also fostering Fox,
00:52 and the two youngsters became firm friends.
00:57 As soon as the young ones were ready,
00:59 the team integrated them into this troop,
01:02 because in the world, baboons live in large social groups.
01:05 Fox is a little bit more of a baby, I'd say.
01:08 He definitely runs to Kesi more.
01:10 He'll cry a little bit more than Doodle will.
01:13 She tends to prefer Fox at the moment.
01:18 Doodle Bob doesn't seem to mind as much.
01:20 He's been kind of fostered by Batista, who's an older male,
01:24 and so he has protection in the troop.
01:26 But there's about to be a major upheaval
01:32 for this group of baboons.
01:34 They're moving house to a much larger enclosure.
01:37 It's been specially built to give them more space to forage
01:41 and learn life skills for when they're
01:43 released back into the wild.
01:45 There's just one problem.
01:47 In order to move them, the team need to catch them.
01:50 We have 20 baboons to move, and they're
01:52 going from the enclosure that they've
01:54 been in for a number of years and that they all know,
01:57 and moving to a brand new enclosure.
02:00 Catching baboons is probably my favorite thing to do,
02:02 but it takes a lot of work.
02:04 They're smart.
02:05 They're clever.
02:06 Anything out of their normal routine,
02:08 and they start to catch on really quickly to what
02:10 we want to do.
02:13 Head of animal care, Tori, is taking charge.
02:16 We're aiming for six baboons today.
02:18 Basically, we're going to take whatever six come in first.
02:20 We have a little bit of a rough idea of who it's going to be.
02:23 This is Doodle Bob.
02:25 We think it's going to end up being him
02:26 and his little gang of teenagers.
02:28 So we'll see how we go.
02:29 The unsuspecting youngsters are enticed inside with treats.
02:39 Hey, buddy, let's go.
02:41 Good boy.
02:42 Hi, friend.
02:47 Come here.
02:49 Come on, Oscar.
02:52 Carly, Thunder, Doodle--
02:54 Doodle Bob, Oscar, Port, Boxham Lobby.
02:59 Seven teenagers.
03:01 They did better than they were expecting,
03:03 but they're going to need an adult to supervise the gang.
03:07 If we can get Batista to come in--
03:08 I think that'll work.
03:09 He's friends with all of these little guys,
03:12 and then we have a babysitter for them
03:13 until the rest of the troop turns up.
03:18 But being an adult, Batista is going to be harder to catch.
03:22 They need a different approach.
03:24 So we've set a self-trap for him.
03:27 So as soon as he wants to pull that banana,
03:29 he'll trap himself.
03:30 He's been caught in here enough times
03:35 that he knows when he takes that banana exactly what's
03:38 going to happen.
03:38 It's just a matter of weighing up risk and reward.
03:41 If he thinks the reward's good enough,
03:43 he'll go in even though he knows he's going to get stuck.
03:45 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:48 Tori?
03:52 Yeah?
03:52 He's in.
03:54 All right, sweet.
03:54 The house move is a good chance to carry out routine health
04:03 checks, which are done every two years.
04:06 We don't necessarily need to anesthetize them to move them
04:09 to their new enclosure, but it's a good opportunity
04:12 because we're catching them.
04:14 We're wading through this little thing.
04:18 All right.
04:18 Happy?
04:19 Yeah.
04:20 With 20 monkeys to examine, the team
04:23 have set up a makeshift clinic close to the enclosure.
04:26 Thank you, Mandy.
04:27 Holy crap.
04:28 There you go.
04:30 Vet Charlotte discovers that Batista
04:32 may have been in a fight.
04:34 See?
04:35 Quite a big wound.
04:37 When they have wounds from other primates,
04:39 it's usually from the teeth.
04:41 Baboons have a lot of personalities
04:44 and with a lot of personalities, you unfortunately
04:46 get personality clashes.
04:48 Untreated, this could have become a nasty infection.
04:51 I'm going to give it a really good clean
04:53 and I'm going to give him a shot of antibiotics
04:55 and anti-inflammatories.
04:59 Now for the youngsters.
05:01 We've got Doodle Bob separated here, so he's next.
05:06 But Doodle Bob is not going to make it easy for them.
05:10 You're OK, Doodle Bob.
05:12 Good boy.
05:14 And ever the mischief maker, he's
05:16 spotted the olive baboons next door and is goading them.
05:19 He has to fight with the other guy through the fence?
05:28 He lives life on the edge.
05:29 The booster shots will protect the baboons
05:36 against rabies and tetanus.
05:38 They're also being tested for tuberculosis.
05:42 Great.
05:43 I think he looks fantastic.
05:45 Don't see any problems.
05:46 What do you think?
05:47 Yeah, he looks good to me.
05:49 When Doodle Bob came in, he came in really young and very needy
05:53 and we had people sitting with him around the clock.
05:57 Then you see him integrated into the troop
05:59 and you see he's obviously eating well.
06:02 It's just so exciting to see.
06:05 I hand this to you and have you put him in there.
06:07 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:11 Holly, come tell your friend to come out.
06:17 Doodle Bob, come on.
06:18 Your friends are here.
06:21 There you go.
06:23 Up, Doodle.
06:25 Doodle Bob heads straight for foster dad, Batista.
06:28 So this is why we were so keen on getting Batista
06:30 through today.
06:31 These guys need him.
06:32 Now for the big moment.
06:37 They're going to be allowed into their new enclosure
06:39 before the others.
06:42 You guys ready to go out?
06:45 Has everyone got their exit buddy?
06:47 [LAUGHTER]
06:48 Aw.
06:49 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:52 Doodle is fearless.
06:57 Oh, Doodle Bob, the brave one.
07:00 Go, Batista.
07:01 He's waiting for them all.
07:03 Batista, you're supposed to be protecting them.
07:05 You can't protect them if you stay inside.
07:07 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:10 Ah, there we go.
07:14 Have fun.
07:16 Be safe.
07:17 Enjoy your new life.
07:18 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:21 So eight down, just 12 to go.
07:24 It's day two of the baboon house move.
07:32 And now it gets serious.
07:34 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:36 Doodle Bob and his young friends were child's play compared
07:39 to the older ones that are left.
07:42 That's enough.
07:44 One of the adult males is making his feelings known.
07:49 Wow.
07:50 Troy isn't happy about being caught.
07:52 Oh, I hope there's no holes under there.
07:55 We're going to be leaving quickly.
07:56 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:59 Next up are Bobby and Kezi, alpha male and female
08:03 of the group.
08:05 Adult baboons are strong and can be aggressive.
08:08 The animal care team have to be on their guard.
08:11 Bobby and Kezi are the dominant pair from our troop.
08:14 Very intelligent monkeys who are very switched on.
08:17 If we make any mistakes this morning,
08:20 they will notice them a long time before we do.
08:22 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:24 The team need to lure them into the carrying cages
08:27 so they can be safely anesthetized.
08:30 The scariest part of this whole baboon troop move
08:33 is just getting these two where we need them to be.
08:37 So we're going to need to leave.
08:38 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:41 Bobby takes the bait.
08:49 [DOOR SLAMS]
08:51 We have to be careful about putting our fingers too
08:55 near him and stuff like that.
08:56 And he's got big teeth and strong hands to pull us.
08:58 So we do have to watch what we're
09:00 doing around him for sure.
09:02 Oi, oi, bub, bub, bub, bub.
09:04 Hey, hey, hey.
09:05 Please don't do that.
09:07 They need to immobilize Bobby so that he doesn't get a chance
09:09 to bite Charlotte when she injects him.
09:12 Fill this hole.
09:13 Fill it.
09:14 The easiest way to do this is to force him
09:16 to one end of the cage.
09:18 [DOG BARKING]
09:25 Bobby is a big baboon.
09:29 And he knows how to throw his weight around.
09:32 Azza, would you get a temperature for me, please?
09:34 Tori's worried that Kezi, the alpha female,
09:40 may be more challenging.
09:42 She's now obviously seeing what's
09:43 happened to Bobby, which is a little bit inconvenient.
09:45 It means that she's onto us now.
09:48 But hopefully, if the reward is good enough,
09:50 we'll still get her to come through.
09:51 [MUSIC PLAYING]
09:55 [BALL BOUNCING]
09:57 To everyone's surprise, Kezi gives in with no complaints.
10:01 [BALL BOUNCING]
10:03 Kezi's being sedated.
10:04 She's on her way through.
10:05 [BALL BOUNCING]
10:09 All right, mama.
10:10 The thing about the alpha female is that she
10:13 kind of keeps everybody in line.
10:16 Batista is good for being that support.
10:19 He's like the fun Uncle Batista, whereas this
10:22 is mom right here, who's about to make
10:24 sure everyone stays in line.
10:25 Bobby, the troop's alpha male, is already coming around.
10:31 [MUSIC PLAYING]
10:33 It's good to see Bobby awake.
10:35 Whenever they sit up, he can breathe
10:37 a little bit of a sigh of relief.
10:38 [MUSIC PLAYING]
10:40 And he seems to think he's been given a banana.
10:42 [MUSIC PLAYING]
10:46 I wouldn't be surprised if he's having
10:48 some nice dreams with the concoction he's had today.
10:52 [MUSIC PLAYING]
10:55 It's been a long day, but two of DoodleBob's troop
11:01 are noticeable by their absence.
11:02 [MUSIC PLAYING]
11:06 Hey, guys.
11:08 Going to sit there all day?
11:10 You want to come inside and see your friends again?
11:14 Hugo and Rika are refusing to go inside.
11:17 Mandy has drawn the short straw.
11:21 These guys definitely know the game we're playing,
11:23 and they know the rules very well.
11:26 I pretend to look at my phone or forage in the grass in hopes
11:29 that they go in there and get the food,
11:31 and then I shut them in.
11:33 But Hugo and Rika aren't in any hurry.
11:37 They can be very patient animals,
11:39 and my patients will have to outlast their patients.
11:41 [MUSIC PLAYING]
11:44 Over at the baboon enclosure, there's
11:49 more good news for Tori.
11:52 Hugo has finally caved in.
11:54 I'm just so happy it's over.
11:56 So what happened?
11:58 So I closed one side of the traps
12:00 because I came down to close them,
12:02 and I was faffing about with the second one,
12:04 and he walked in the first room.
12:06 So I'm looking at him, and I'm like, all right.
12:08 He's clearly very interested in the food.
12:10 And then I took one step, and he stayed.
12:13 I was like, OK, this is good.
12:15 And he took one step forward, and that's all I needed.
12:17 And I was like, bam.
12:19 Well done.
12:20 [MUSIC PLAYING]
12:23 Charlotte decides to dart Hugo rather than risk
12:27 him causing even more chaos.
12:29 He's not happy that he's been caught.
12:32 Hey, bud, don't.
12:33 No, no, no, come on.
12:34 Hey, Hugo, Hugo, hey, hey.
12:38 Charlotte, how ready are you?
12:40 [MUSIC PLAYING]
12:43 [MUSIC PLAYING]
12:46 541.
12:51 To see him on that board and ready to go back
12:57 is a massive relief.
12:58 [MUSIC PLAYING]
13:02 Right, Mandy, could you get me the stuff in the fridge
13:04 that's saying it's Hugo on it?
13:05 Let's just get this done as soon as possible.
13:09 Over the last week, the rest of the troop
13:11 have been settling into the new enclosure
13:13 and reestablishing their old hierarchy.
13:17 And DoodleBob and Fox have been making the most
13:19 of their new playground.
13:22 But now it's time for Hugo to join them.
13:26 Animal care coordinator Kondwani is being cautious.
13:30 Hugo's been away from the rest of the troop for a while now.
13:33 Sometimes it's very tricky if you put them just back.
13:36 It might upset the whole troop.
13:37 So we just want to see first how they welcome him,
13:40 and then we can put him back.
13:41 [MUSIC PLAYING]
13:45 It's looking good.
13:53 [MUSIC PLAYING]
13:56 Any time you change something in a baboon's environment,
14:10 it could create some tension.
14:11 But everyone in here seems to be really happy.
14:15 It's really nice to see them climbing
14:16 and exploring a new place.
14:18 [MUSIC PLAYING]
14:20 So far, I'm feeling confident about the way
14:23 Hugo has been integrated back into the troop.
14:26 It's going very well.
14:27 If it continues going this well, then it's a success.
14:31 [MUSIC PLAYING]
14:34 And Mandy thinks there could be a bright future ahead
14:37 for the troop's cheekiest baboon.
14:39 DoodleBob could be an alpha male one day.
14:41 You never know.
14:43 He certainly seems to have the aptitude for it as a youngster.
14:48 He's got a good future, I think, ahead of him for sure.
14:50 [MUSIC PLAYING]
14:55 [BIRDS CHIRPING]
14:57 [MUSIC PLAYING]
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