A grieving monkey mom was caught on camera carrying around its stillborn offspring for several days after the birth.
The incident occurred at Campfire Academy in South Africa where future guide Tracey Mobley took interest in the female monkey she saw carrying around her dead baby for days.
“It was very sad and empathetic, she looked forlorn as if she was grieving and she kept trying to put it into a tree as if encouraging it to move and hold on, it was very distressing to watch,” the woman said in an interview.
“It was just very moving and we had many discussions relating it to when a human gives birth to a stillborn and just how little time they have with it to mourn.”
According to the experts, it is completely normal for primates to be attached to their offspring, whether dead or alive.
“She was clearly trying to engage a reaction from the baby. To start with she clung to it at all times and then gradually started to carry it in her hand and left it from time to time, and then she would carry it in her mouth in order to make full use of all of her limbs like when she would climb trees etc,” Tracey added.
As researchers Tetsuro Matsuzawa and Claire Watson found in their study, monkey moms sometimes carry around their dead infants for hours, days, or even months until the body completely decomposes.
“Extended duration carrying is not exceptional. Most commonly, however, transportation lasts between one and several days, and mothers typically direct care-taking behavior to the dead infant as if it were still alive, such as grooming and apparently protective behaviors,” the study suggests.
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