Monkey kidnapping behavior may sound unbelievable, but scientists have confirmed it happens in the wild. On an island in Panama, capuchin monkeys were caught on camera kidnapping baby howler monkeys. This surprising discovery has left researchers puzzled about why these monkeys act this way.
Capuchin monkeys were caught on camera kidnapping baby howler monkeys. The whole act was recorded on CCTV. But why did they do this? Even scientists don’t know for sure.
A team of surprised researchers published their findings on Monday, May 19, in the science journal Current Biology.
The study says that from 2022 to 2023, cameras were placed across different areas of the island. At least 11 baby howler monkeys were seen being taken away by capuchin monkeys.
Jo Goldsborough, a researcher from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany, called it a “very surprising discovery.” He said that they had never seen anything like this before in the animal world.
Capuchin monkeys are clever and long-lived. They are about the size of a pet cat. These monkeys can learn new behaviors from each other. Some groups in Panama even use stones as tools to crack hard food like nuts and seafood.
The team from the Max Planck Institute and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute had set up more than 80 cameras. Their goal was to study how capuchin monkeys use tools. But they were shocked when they saw a baby howler monkey with a capuchin for the first time in early 2022.
In the videos, the capuchins were seen carrying babies on their backs and holding stones in their hands. They were also making loud noises and banging the stones. However, the actual moment of kidnapping was not captured on video.
Howler monkeys spend most of their time high in the trees. Scientists believe the kidnappings happened there, where the cameras couldn’t catch everything. Margaret Crofoot, a co-author of the study, said that they still know very little about this behavior.
Most of the kidnapped baby howler monkeys have died. Baby howlers drink only their mother’s milk. The ones seen in the videos were too young to survive without it. Scientists think they died from lack of food.
Crofoot added, “I like to think that maybe a few babies escaped and found their mothers. But I can’t say that for sure.”
So why are the capuchins doing this? At first, scientists thought it might be because of hunting or aggression.
But the study shows something else. After taking the babies, the capuchin monkeys did not hurt them. Instead, they acted in a caring way.
This led the scientists to a new idea. It might be a mistake in behavior—like a mix-up in mothering instincts. One capuchin may have picked up a baby howler out of confusion. Others could have copied the act.
Catherine Crockford from France’s CNRS Institute for Cognitive Sciences says this is a rare case of strange social behavior in wild animals.
It’s still not clear why this is happening. But the study shows how little we know about animal behavior. And it raises big questions. Can animals make social mistakes like humans do? Can one monkey’s odd act become a group trend?
For now, researchers are still watching. And the world is left amazed. Monkeys, it seems, can surprise us in the most unexpected ways.
