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Peoria-born River the Mandrill celebrates her first birthday at the Peoria Zoo

Baby River (right) with her mother Kofola (left.
Max Lakes
/
Peoria Zoo
Baby River (right) with her mother Kofola (left.)

A baby primate at the Peoria Zoo celebrates her first birthday this summer.

River the Mandrill was born last year on Aug. 19. Director Max Lakes says River joined the horde, which is the technical term for a group of mandrills, originally established at the Peoria Zoo 13 years ago.

Both of River’s parents were already longtime residents of the Peoria Zoo, which is somewhat unusual for zoo births. Lakes acknowledges that, often, breeding programs for threatened and endangered species are conducted by sending one animal off to another zoo temporarily.

In the case of River’s parents, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums identified the parents as a good genetic pairing.

“Mandrills are a primate and they are not unique to primates,” Lakes said. “Meaning that they have certain rituals they go through. I kind of equate it to the rituals that we went through in high school when we were dating. And then as we get into college and all of that, we go through those rituals to find the mate that we are most comfortable with.”

Mandrills live together in hordes for long periods of time in the wild, Lakes says, they have a “continuity.” In putting together a Species Survival Plan, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums looks to try and keep conditions as similar to their natural habitat as possible.

Lakes says these programs allow zoos to help rebuild dwindling populations of species from within zoos, without bringing in animals from the wild.

“About the only time that we do touch wild populations is if it’s so critical that we have to pull them,” he said. “So if we think back to the 70’s and the 80’s, and it wasn’t actually the zoos that pulled them, but it was the Department of Forestry with the black-footed ferret.”

The mandrill species is currently classified as "vulnerable," moving towards endangered due to habitat loss and human interaction. Lakes says these are common causes for new species entering endangered status.

As River the Mandrill approaches her first birthday, Lake says she’s beginning to wear on the adult mandrills’ nerves a bit.

“She gets to spend 10 to 15 minutes with each one and then they’ll push her off,” he said. “And then she’ll go to the next one and sometimes they’ll push her off. And she’ll pretend to cry, so one of the other adults will come over and check on her. It’s absolutely adorable.”

Eventually, Lake says River will likely be sent to another zoo to live with a troop of her own, sometime between the ages of four and seven. However, this August, the zoo will celebrate her first birthday with special enrichment toys and treats and look forward to at least another three years with baby River.

“She needs to learn how to be a mandrill,” Lakes said. “And she’s going to learn that from her parents.”

The Peoria Zoo will post more information about River’s first birthday celebration as the date gets closer.

Collin Schopp is a reporter at WCBU. He joined the station in 2022.