Latest news with #howlermonkeys
Daily Mail
20-05-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
Moment monkey 'kidnaps' a baby of another species and carries the bub away on its back... and experts are struggling to work out why
Fascinating new video footage captured on a remote island has captured a bizarre new phenomenon - baby monkeys being abducted by another species. The unprecedented craze of so-called 'monkey kidnappings' by capuchin monkeys have left scientists baffled, having first discovered the distinctive behaviour while reviewing footage from the small island of Panama. Zoe Goldsborough, alongside other researchers at Max Planck and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Germany, had initially set up more than 80 cameras to study capuchin tool use, but were shocked to witness the first howler babies begin to appear in early 2022. In bewildering new footage shared on YouTube a capuchin monkey, the size of a house-cat, is videoed with a baby howler monkey clinging to its back. Neither monkey are related, nor even of the same species. In fact, over the course of the 'tends and thousands of video footage and images', the all-male capuchin monkeys were seen carrying at least 11 howler babies between 2022 and 2023. Ms Goldsborough described the kidnappings as a 'shocking finding', with it still unclear what motivated the monkeys to carry out the mass abductions. Stressing the unprecedented nature of the footage, she added: 'We've not seen anything like this in the animal kingdom. 'We could see, for instance, that it was not a case of adoption where these babies were found by the capuchins, but rather abduction, because the infants tried to escape, they called to their parents who called back and we also saw the capuchins preventing them from escaping.' Meanwhile, Margaret Crofoot, co-author of Max Planck and Smithsonian, who have published the findings from the study in the Current Biology journal, described the early photographs of the kidnappings as 'so weird and so wrong'. The fascinating video showed the capuchins walking and pounding their stone tools with baby howlers on their backs. However, cameras did not capture the moments of abduction, which scientists said likely happened up in the trees, where howlers spend most of their time. As a result, Ms Crofoot described their 'window' into the story as 'constrained'. In most or all cases, the baby howlers died, the researchers said. Infant howler monkeys would normally be carried by their mothers while still nursing. All the babies in the video - from a few weeks to a few months in age - were too young to be weaned. Ms Crofoot added: 'A hopeful part of me wants to believe some escaped and went back to their mothers, but we don't know'. The videos recorded a few instances of young capuchin males still carrying howler babies that had died, likely from starvation. Many animals - from gorillas to orcas - have been observed carrying their own dead offspring, though scientists are unsure of sure the reasons. Found solely in South America and Central America, the capuchin monkeys are long-lived, intellectual and often learn new behaviours from each other. One particular group of capuchins in Panama even learned how to use stone tools to crack open nuts and seafood. But, the question still remains - Why did the capuchin males do it? There were no signs of deliberate aggression toward the babies and they weren't eaten, ruling out predation. Ms Goldsborough said that the scientists have 'all spent hours wracking our brains why they would do this'. The first baby-snatcher may have had a confused 'caring motivation,' or parental instinct, because he showed gentleness interacting with the infants, she said. Then four other males copied his actions. Brendan Barrett, project leader for the Department for Ecology of Animal Societies, said that given there was no utility or function of the kidnapping, the monkeys may have been doing it simply out of 'boredom' given there is a lot of 'free time' on islands. The researchers said they don't believe the capuchins harmed the babies on purpose. So far, only one other group of capuchins has been known to kidnap. The research shows the 'remarkable behavioral variation across social groups of the same species,' said Catherine Crockford, a primatologist at the CNRS Institute for Cognitive Sciences in France, who was not involved in the study.
The Independent
19-05-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Caught on camera, capuchin monkeys kidnap howler monkey babies
A baby howler monkey clung to the back of an older male monkey, its tiny fingers grasping fur. But they're not related and not even the same species. Scientists spotted surprising evidence of what they describe as monkey kidnappings while reviewing video footage from a small island of Panama. The capuchin monkeys were seen carrying at least 11 howler babies between 2022 and 2023. 'This was very much a shocking finding,' said Zoë Goldsborough, a behavioral ecologist at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany. 'We've not seen anything like this in the animal kingdom." The monkeys' motivations remain under investigation. Capuchins are house cat-size monkeys found in South America and Central America. They are long-lived, clever and learn new behaviors from each other. One group of capuchins in Panama has even learned to use stone tools to crack open nuts and seafood. Goldsberg and other researchers at Max Planck and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute had set up more than 80 cameras to study capuchin tool use, but were surprised to see the first howler babies appear in early 2022. The footage showed the capuchins walking and pounding their stone tools with baby howlers on their backs. But cameras did not capture the moments of abduction, which scientists said likely happened up in the trees, where howlers spend most of their time. 'Our window into this story is constrained,' said co-author Margaret Crofoot of Max Planck and the Smithsonian. The findings were published Monday in the journal Current Biology. In most or all cases, the baby howlers died, researchers said. Infant howler monkeys would normally be carried by their mothers while still nursing. All the babies in the video -- from a few weeks to a few months in age -- were too young to be weaned. 'A hopeful part of me wants to believe some escaped and went back to their mothers, but we don't know," said Crofoot. The videos recorded a few instances of young capuchin males still carrying howler babies that had died, likely from starvation. Many animals -- from gorillas to orcas -- have been observed carrying their own dead offspring, though scientists aren't sure the reasons. Why did the capuchin males do it? There were no signs of deliberate aggression toward the babies and they weren't eaten, ruling out predation. 'We've all spent hours wracking our brains why they would do this,' said Goldsborough. The first baby-snatcher may have had a confused 'caring motivation,' or parental instinct, because he showed gentleness interacting with the infants, she said. Then four other males copied his actions. The researchers said they don't believe the capuchins harmed the babies on purpose. So far, only one group of capuchins has been known to kidnap. The research shows the 'remarkable behavioral variation across social groups of the same species,' said Catherine Crockford, a primatologist at the CNRS Institute for Cognitive Sciences in France, who was not involved in the study. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Associated Press
19-05-2025
- Science
- Associated Press
Caught on camera, capuchin monkeys kidnap howler monkey babies
WASHINGTON (AP) — A baby howler monkey clung to the back of an older male monkey, its tiny fingers grasping fur. But they're not related and not even the same species. Scientists spotted surprising evidence of what they describe as monkey kidnappings while reviewing video footage from a small island of Panama. The capuchin monkeys were seen carrying at least 11 howler babies between 2022 and 2023. 'This was very much a shocking finding,' said Zoë Goldsborough, a behavioral ecologist at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany. 'We've not seen anything like this in the animal kingdom.' The monkeys' motivations remain under investigation. Capuchins are house cat-size monkeys found in South America and Central America. They are long-lived, clever and learn new behaviors from each other. One group of capuchins in Panama has even learned to use stone tools to crack open nuts and seafood. Goldsberg and other researchers at Max Planck and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute had set up more than 80 cameras to study capuchin tool use, but were surprised to see the first howler babies appear in early 2022. The footage showed the capuchins walking and pounding their stone tools with baby howlers on their backs. But cameras did not capture the moments of abduction, which scientists said likely happened up in the trees, where howlers spend most of their time. 'Our window into this story is constrained,' said co-author Margaret Crofoot of Max Planck and the Smithsonian. The findings were published Monday in the journal Current Biology. In most or all cases, the baby howlers died, researchers said. Infant howler monkeys would normally be carried by their mothers while still nursing. All the babies in the video -- from a few weeks to a few months in age -- were too young to be weaned. 'A hopeful part of me wants to believe some escaped and went back to their mothers, but we don't know,' said Crofoot. The videos recorded a few instances of young capuchin males still carrying howler babies that had died, likely from starvation. Many animals -- from gorillas to orcas -- have been observed carrying their own dead offspring, though scientists aren't sure the reasons. Why did the capuchin males do it? There were no signs of deliberate aggression toward the babies and they weren't eaten, ruling out predation. 'We've all spent hours wracking our brains why they would do this,' said Goldsborough. The first baby-snatcher may have had a confused 'caring motivation,' or parental instinct, because he showed gentleness interacting with the infants, she said. Then four other males copied his actions. The researchers said they don't believe the capuchins harmed the babies on purpose. So far, only one group of capuchins has been known to kidnap. The research shows the 'remarkable behavioral variation across social groups of the same species,' said Catherine Crockford, a primatologist at the CNRS Institute for Cognitive Sciences in France, who was not involved in the study. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
New York Times
19-05-2025
- Science
- New York Times
This Was Odd: These Monkeys Kidnapped Babies From Another Species.
Capuchin monkeys don't generally hang out with their neighbors, the howler monkeys, on Jicarón island off Panama. So the image of an infant howler monkey clinging to the back of a white-faced capuchin confused Zoë Goldsborough, a behavioral ecologist at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany. She came across it in 2022 while scouring footage from remote cameras on the island. Eventually, she and her colleagues came to a startling conclusion that they described on Monday in the journal Current Biology. Young male capuchins on that island, they say, on a variety of occasions have abducted howler monkey infants and carried them around for days. The infants often died from dehydration or starvation. 'Looking at the footage and not knowing what was going to happen was somewhat like watching a horror movie that was being written,' said Brendan Barrett, an evolutionary anthropologist at the institute and the dissertation adviser to Ms. Goldsborough. Both ordinarily focus on capuchin stone tool use, not monkey-napping and infant murder, and are also affiliated with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. From January 2022 to July 2023, researchers documented 11 different howler monkey babies being carried by five young male capuchins. The trend appears to have been set by Joker, a male capuchin so nicknamed because of a small scar on the side of his mouth. Other juvenile capuchins seem to have imitated him months later. Neither the study authors nor outside experts who reviewed the research believe the abductors intend to harm the babies. Dr. Barrett compared the capuchins to children who capture lightning bugs in jars and fail to release them before the insects die in captivity. Still, capuchins have been observed behaving with aggression and destructiveness toward other species, and they have been shown to harass howler monkeys at other sites. Susan Perry, an anthropologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved in the study, described witnessing the animals torturing coati pups before eating them alive in Costa Rica. She once observed a capuchin group tossing around a baby kinkajou they had captured as though it were a ball. Howler monkeys, on the other hand, are 'the cows of the trees,' said Meg Crofoot, also an anthropologist at the Max Planck Institute and a co-author of the study. They spend much of their time idly digesting leaves when not performing their bass-heavy seduction calls. In footage researchers gathered in Panama, Joker is seen going about his day with a howler monkey baby on his belly or back, not unlike a grocery shopper carrying a chihuahua in her purse. He and the other capuchins did not play with or groom the infants they purloined — at least, not on camera. Other scenes are more disturbing. In one video, a group of capuchins prevents an infant howler monkey from escaping while adult howler monkeys call out. Remote camera footage has limitations. Researchers could not follow the monkeys to the scene of the crime, nor could they find out if any babies survived. But scientists saw that four of the babies died, and they suspect that most of the rest did, too, because they had no access to their mothers' milk. Dr. Barrett and Dr. Crofoot were among the first to document stone tool use among this capuchin population, and they have continuously followed the group since 2017. These capuchins have figured out how to use stones to crack open mollusks, snails and other edible treats that have hard shells. The scientists say it may not be a coincidence that monkeys on a remote island that kidnap simians of other species had earlier shown evidence of tool use. While the baby stealing and carrying behavior displayed by the monkeys appears disturbing, it is also a form of cultural innovation. The study authors even go so far as to suggest that the monkeys may invent new behaviors and rituals because they are bored. It is only on Jicarón, as well as the neighboring Coiba island, that this species uses tools. In both places, it has no predators to fear, and ample food. 'They may just have a lot of time on their hands,' Dr. Crofoot said. Further observations would be needed to document evidence of boredom, said Charlotte Burn, an animal welfare and behavior specialist at Royal Veterinary College in London who was not involved in the study. The team plans to study additional camera footage for clues as to what prompts this behavior. Scientists also want to understand Joker's social status in the capuchin group before he started this trend. Dr. Burn agreed it would be important to know if the howler heists helped Joker rise in prominence among his troop, and if loneliness could have driven him to his strange behavior. 'If he's an outcast — you know, he was not getting groomed by the others and stuff — then it's more of a mystery why the others are copying,' Dr. Burn said. 'Maybe they too are missing whatever he was missing.'
