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Capuchin monkeys have been observed eating the remains of a baby monkey for the first time, a rare example of cannibalism among New World primates.
Researchers studying white-faced Panamanian capuchins in Costa Rica have witnessed a 10-day-old baby fall from a tree.
Her mother tried to save the offspring but she soon died and quickly abandoned the corpse.
It was then that a 2 year old boy approached and began to nibble the fingers of the dead baby.
Then the 23-year-old alpha female in the group – the infant’s great aunt – arrived and began eating the lower limbs as well.
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The remains of an infant capuchin monkey that was devoured by other members of its party. Cannibalism is extremely rare in New World primates and has never been observed in Capuchins
Cannibalism is sometimes adopted by animals during times of food scarcity or high population density, as it provides access to high quality protein, fats, and other nutrients.
But it also carries a high risk of disease transmission and other disadvantages.
Consumption of male partners by females during mating is widespread among arachnids.
Cannibalism is also not unheard of among other species of monkeys, usually as part of the infanticide of alpha males seeking to establish a breeding monopoly.
An alpha female and a juvenile male eating the fingers and legs of a dead infant. Capuchins are omnivorous but generally there is a struggle to access the prey and the whole animal is eaten
In the wild, a pregnant chimpanzee can sometimes isolate itself for weeks before and after giving birth to prevent its baby from being eaten alive by other members of the community.
But it’s rare in New World monkeys: there have only been eight recorded cases in just six of the more than 100 species found in the Americas.
And this has never been observed in capuchin monkeys, native to the tropical forests of Central America.
“We’ve never seen anything like it before,” primate behavioral ecologist Katharine Jack, co-author of a new report in the journal Ecology and Evolution, told New Scientist.
White-faced nasturtiums are omnivorous – they are known to eat lizards, squirrels, birds, and even baby coatis – but they usually only eat things that they have killed themselves.
“They’re not recovering at all,” said Jack.
Typically, Capuchins bite the faces of their victims, “perhaps to avoid being bitten or to silence the prey,” the authors wrote.
White-faced nasturtiums are omnivorous – they eat lizards, squirrels, birds, and even baby coatis – but they usually only eat things they’ve killed themselves.
There is usually a struggle to access the prey and the whole animal is eaten.
In this case, dating from April 2019, an adult male seen being chased away after the infant fell would have dealt the fatal blow.
But only the alpha female and the young man consumed the infant – and they left her face, upper limbs, and torso intact.
While the other members of the group showed interest – sniffing, touching and threatening the corpse – none attempted to eat it.
“Given that this is the only recorded cannibalism sighting in over 37 years of studying this population, we consider this to be rare behavior in this species,” the authors wrote. .
The researchers say more study is needed to fully understand the unusual behavior, but they noted that female capuchin monkeys are known to bear dead offspring for many hours.
In this case, the baby’s mother showed up but did not attempt to take her away when she was unable to hold on to her.
As a first-time parent, the researchers theorized, she may not have figured out what to do.
Without his mother carrying the dead child away, the other monkeys were faced with an unusual situation.
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