Edinburgh Zoo’s gelada baboons celebrate birthday

TWO of Edinburgh Zoo’s gelada baboons celebrated their fifth birthday today with special treats from keepers.

Chibale munches away on a boiled potato at Edinburgh Zoo, as part of her 5th birthday celebrations. Picture: PA

Chibale, and half-sister Chiku were given their favourite delicacies - boiled potatoes - along with the rest of the baboon horde at the zoo.

The gelada group first arrived in the capital from Germany, in December 2007, comprising related females and their offspring.

Since then, Malachi - an unrelated male - has been introduced to the group, which had four births in 2009 and two in the spring of 2010.

Gelada numbers are declining in the wild, partly as a result of global warming. The grasslands of their natural habitat that they rely on for food are vanishing, with buses and shrubs taking their place.