Capuchin monkeys aremainly knownfor their intelligence and resourcefulness . However , scientists have arrive across a strange , fresh doings among the primates : child abduction .
PerSmithsonian , Zoë Goldsborough , a researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior , first honour footage of a young male capuchin monkey carrying a baby howler monkey in June 2022 — an action that ’s never been documented in the specie . The findings appear in a field in the journalCurrent Biology .
To see if this was a one - off position , Goldsborough and her colleagues reexamined videos from their motion - sensing cameras placed throughout Jicarón Island near Panama‘s Pacific coast . They find another example of a virile capuchin monkey with a baby howler monkey dating back to January 2022 . However , the other males did n’t seem to copy the behavior until five months later .
Their video captured male capuchin monkeys carrying 11 babe howler scamp in sum . The juveniles would n’t hurt the infants nor pay much tending to them . Since male primates ca n’t create Milk River , several babies die of malnutrition . you could watch the footage above .
Scientists are at a red for what ’s get the capuchin scallywag steal infant of a different species . Both scallywag have dissimilar dieting , so food competition would n’t be an publication . The behavior also did n’t seem to provoke a positive social response from peers .
The subject author suggest the kidnappings might be motivated by boredom . Since capuchin have no predator and very petty rival on Jicarón Island , they may be render to make up for the deficiency of stimulation by experimenting with new behavior .
Susan Perry , a primatologist at the University of California in Los Angeles who was n’t part of the study , dissent with their conclusion . The expert tellsSmithsonianthat male capuchin rapscallion often steal other capuchin infants . She believes their goal is to build relationship by raising these potential “ sidekicks / henchmen . ” The primates may be attempt to do the same with howler monkey baby .
The Jicarón Island grouping of capuchin monkeys is especially unparalleled . In addition to their strange interest in another metal money ’s young , they ’re also the only known monkeys of their form to practice Isidor Feinstein Stone tool regularly .
Read More About Animals :
