In a world first, a Tonkean macaque mother has been seen eating the mummified remains of her dead baby after carrying its lifeless body around for weeks.
The bizarre practice was seen by researchers while observing macaques at the Parco Faunistico di Piano dell’Abatino animal sanctuary in Italy.
While the researchers are unsure why the mother decided to eat her baby, they suggest that the cannibalism may be the final, extreme expression of attachment to her child.
In a world first, a Tonkean macaque mother has been seen eating the mummified remains of her dead baby. While the researchers are unsure why the mother decided to eat her baby, they suggest that the cannibalism may be the final, extreme expression of attachment to her child
Tonkean macaques are known to carry their babies’ dead bodies around for several days in an act of grief.
But researchers from the Parco Faunistico di Piano dell’Abatino animal sanctuary observed a new mother, named Evalyne, carrying her dead infant for weeks, before eating its mummified remains.
What was particularly surprising about this action is the fact that Tonkean macaques ‘are a vegetarian species and never eat meat’, according to Dr Arianna De Marco, lead author of the study, speaking to National Geographic.
Dr Frans de Waal, a primatologist at Emory University who wasn’t associated with the study, told MailOnline: ‘We have other reports of mothers carrying their dead infant for a long time, until it disintegrates.
While many monkeys, such as this one in Jabalphur, India, are known to mourn their babies, this is one of the first times a monkey has been seen to eat their remains
‘Mainly of apes, but also monkeys, such as macaques.
‘The new part here is the cannibalism.
‘Macaques normally don’t even eat meat, so it is unclear why this happened and if perhaps the mother had some nutritional deficit.’
Evalyne’s baby died at four days old, at which point Evalyne started staring and screaming at her own reflection in her enclosure’s door – another behaviour not seen before, according to Dr De Marco.
The macaque then continued to groom, lick and carry the dead baby, even when the body had mummified on the eighth day, and its head fell off on the 14th.
Dr De Marco said: ‘I was both curious and moved at the same time.’
In the third week, the rest of the infant fell apart and its hair came off, and at this point, Evalyne started eating the baby’s remains.
Dr De Marco said: ‘It is difficult to give an explanation for this behaviour.
Many species of monkey are known to carry their babies’ dead bodies around for several days in an act of grief. Pictured is a mother monkey who carried her baby for day in Bangalore after it died
‘The dramatic change of maternal behaviour from caretaking to cannibalistic attitude is astonishing.’
While they are unsure of the reason for Evalyne’s bizarre actions, the researchers suggest that cannibalism may be the final, extreme expression of attachment to her baby.
In their study, published in Primates, the researchers wrote: ‘The female gradually proceeded from strong attachment to the infant’s body to decreased attachment, then finally full abandonment of the remains.’