Sexy female baboons are too hot to trot for their male counterparts at Wellington Zoo.
The female baboons' appetite for random sex was exposed by Victoria University master's student Ray Tobler. Armed with a clipboard and binoculars, he spent most of last year studying the mating habits of the zoo's two harems of Hamadryas baboons.
Hamadryas baboons have a unique social structure made up of clans. Males have a harem of females, which they defend from other males. The females are ruled by aggression and normally stay by the male's side at all times.
Mr Tobler studied two clans involving nine of the zoo's 20 baboons.
But Mr Tobler found some females were fooling their mates about when they were fertile, before sneaking off for monkey business with males from the other harem.
There could be political reasons behind the females baboons' promiscuity, he said.
"By mating with other males, females increase the likelihood these males will attempt to take this female from her harem leader later. This could be beneficial to females with a poor relationship with the other females or their harem leader."
The baboons welcomed a new baby last week.
Mr Tobler said the birth was almost certainly the result of a "sneaky mating" as neither of the male harem leaders could father offspring after having vasectomies
Zoo spokeswoman Stephanie Gray said the new arrival would help settle the harems down.
"It's lovely having a new baby in the group, it enables them to follow natural behaviours."
