Question: What made you want to work with Baboons?

Cassandra Raby answered on 12 Nov 2013:

It’s funny, I didn’t really plan on working with baboons – and I didn’t think I’d be working on them for as long as I have!
By complete chance there were some baboon samples that I could use when I was studying at London zoo. So I studied the samples and got more interested in where the samples came from. I also began to realise the importance of studying baboons: they carry similar diseases as humans, we can tell each one apart, and we can find out about their behaviour. Think of how many wild animals you can tell apart and follow all day long to see their behaviour! They are a pretty useful study system.
So I went into the field to see the baboons and work with them… and I just fell in love with the place and the animals! (Even though baboons are pretty difficult animals to like, eek!)

I started to think about all the important information we could get from this project… and I have kept wanting to find out more about them ever since!