Video suggests capuchin monkeys ‘kidnap’ baby howler monkeys, scientists say
It remains unclear why the monkeys, filmed on a Panamanian island, were taking the babies from another species
Scientists have spotted surprising evidence of what they describe as monkey kidnappings while reviewing video footage from a small Panamanian island. 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 behavioural ecologist at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany. “We’ve not seen anything like this in the animal kingdom.”
