A lonely
baboon in a private Lithuanian zoo has adopted a chicken he saved from certain
death last month and the two have formed a fast friendship, the zoo's director
said on Friday.
The chicken was intended as food for other animals in the
zoo, but escaped and was sheltered by Mitis, a
six-year-old Hamadryas Baboon, Edvardas Legeckas, who runs
the zoo near the port city
Mitis has
been fed chicken meat before, but this time he fell in love with his food, Legeckas said.
"He plays with the chicken, cleans its feathers, sleeps
with it, and takes care as if it was his own baby child," the zoo director
said.
"But I am not sure how long this affair would last,
because baboon may finally realize this is food."
Baboons, with their distinctive long dog-like muzzles and
heavy powerful jaws, are omnivorous, but usually prefer fruit. In the wild,
they live in close-knit social groups.
"Obviously this baboon needed someone to communicate
with," the director said.