Billie finds his feet!

Baby Gelada baboon, Billie, is finding his feet and starting to explore his surroundings.

The five-week-old youngster is gaining more independence each day and this weekend, for the first time, has started to leave mum, Addis.

Lower Primates Section Leader, Nicola Wright, said: “Billie is becoming a very lively little baboon.

“Mum is still trying to keep a hold of him, by grabbing his tail when she doesn’t want him to stray too far from her, but he’s becoming very inquisitive and you can see he already wants to go off on his own and investigate.”

Make sure you join us on Bank Holiday Monday, August 25, when we’ll be welcoming conservationist and TV Presenter, Bill Oddie to DZG, to officially open the £20,000 half-acre natural hillside Baboons on the Bank exhibit.

Here at DZG we have two separate groups of Gelada baboons – a breeding group and a bachelor unit – who were all introduced to DZG last year.

In the breeding group Billie and Addis live with females, Jimma and Tana and alpha male, Ebano.

The bachelor group, who can be found next to the Spider monkeys, contains five males – Simiya Semelo, Sanjo, Jima and Jilo. 

Watch baby Billie in action in the short video below!