Adelaide Zoo welcomes baby baboon

Adelaide Zoo has a new Hamadryas baboon with the week-old infant thriving, according to its keeper.

The baby was born to parents Chappi and Horus on October 27 and is the only second of the species to be born at the zoo in the past 10 years.

"The baby is suckling well and clinging tightly to mum. Both Chappi and Horus are doing a wonderful job looking after their newest family member," primate keeper Pij Olijnyk said.

The sex of the baby is yet to be confirmed.

Hamadryas baboons are one of five species of baboon found in harsh, dry environments in Africa.

Wild populations are under pressure with their habitat being converted into farmland, the zoo says.

Baboons live in multi-level societies in the wild with as many as 800 in one area.