What do you get when you mix 29 baboons and a retired rhino?

Well, domestic bliss actually.

Keepers at Port Lympne wild animal park, near Hythe, have put
the finishing touches to an enclosure to house both a troop of
guinea baboons and black rhino Rukwa - who at 39 has recently been
retired from the park’s breeding programme.

And this week, in a world first, the new room mates moved in
together.

Never before have animal keepers housed black rhinos and guinea
baboons in the same enclosure, but despite them being not
naturally-occurring neighbours, they are getting on
brilliantly.

Head primate keeper Simon Jeffery said: “They are getting on
really well, in fact everything is going incredibly well. She
has been quite relaxed and they have left each other alone.”

Rukwa, an East African black Rhino, is the only surviving
founder member of the Port Lympne herd. She has given birth
to seven calves and has now been retired to enjoy the rest of her
days relaxing at the park.

The guinea baboons, who hale from West Africa, have been growing
steadily as a troop, with the last addition born only last
week.

Adrian Harland, Animal Director at Port Lympne, said: “This
innovative joint enclosure will allow the baboons to interact with
each other - and possibly the rhino - in a natural
environment.”