After several days of carrying a dead infant around, a zoo monkey mother decided to cannibalize the corpse. The horrifying sight was described as a "very rare" instance by a primate biologist.
Cannibalizing a Baby Monkey
According to Live Science, the story started with a mother carrying around her dead infant for days after it passed away. As such, she proceeded to devour the corpse after trying to catch its gaze and throwing it around the enclosure.
The monkey, a female drill, specifically known as the Mandrillius leucophaeus, gave birth to a son in August 2020. After just eight days, the infant monkey passed away.
The reason behind the infant monkey's death remained a mystery since it was healthy upon birth. However, its mother, Kumasi, continued to carry the corpse for almost two days.
Live Science reported that this prevented the zoo keepers from being able to remove the dead body. To their surprise, after two days, Kumasi started eating her infant.
This happened at the Dvůr Králové safari park located in the Czech Republic. Despite the unfortunate sight, researchers took note of the situation, describing what had happened before the mother ingested her dead offspring.
Mother Monkey Inspected Her Infant Before Eating
As published in the journal Primates on June 27, researchers took account of these events, including videos of the mother eating her infant. Elisabetta Palagi, a University of Pisa, Italy, primate biologist and co-author of the study, said that the phenomenon was "very rare."
Per Palagi, the mother inspected her infant to check for the baby's gaze. As such, this was common in monkeys and apes as they often inspected their dead babies face.
One reason why the primates do this was suggested to be they looking for eye movements. When no eye movements were found, this would mean that there could be something wrong with the baby.
Live Science reports how Kumasi received no feedback, resulting in her throwing the dead baby around the enclosure and, after that, devouring the corpse.
Researchers Explain the Phenomenon
Palagi explains that what happened to Kumasi's baby could be explained as the primate mother trying to recover energy after gestation. She added that this could potentially increase her chances of future reproduction.
The primate researcher explained that since Kumasi didn't share the baby's corpse with other monkeys, it can be perceived that she was trying to recover energy after exerting incredible reproductive investment.
A report by Phys.org reveals that this wasn't the first instance of cannibalism within primates, as a 2019 incident involving a white-faced capuchin monkey in the Costa Rica national park saw similar behavior. After an infant white-faced capuchin monkey fell from a tree, another female monkey started devouring its corpse, and two weeks later, that female gave birth.
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