Researchers puzzle over rash of baby monkey kidnappings Young, male capuchin monkeys have started kidnapping the babies of nearby howler monkeys. Why? Maybe boredom.

Then, five months after they saw Joker with an infant, four other young male capuchins were found carrying around howler babies. Over 15 months, the capuchin group took in 11 howler babies younger ...

A young male nicknamed Joker was probably the first to start carrying a howler monkey baby on his back for days on end. Then a group of other young males started to copy him.

Brendan Barrett. This photo provided by researchers shows a baby howler monkey clinging onto a young adult male capuchin monkey on Jicarón Island, Panama in September 2022.

Young male capuchins on that island, they say, on a variety of occasions have abducted howler monkey infants and carried them around for days. The infants often died from dehydration or starvation.

Young, male capuchin monkeys have started kidnapping the babies of nearby howler monkeys. ... a one-to-two-day-old howler monkey infant clings to the body of a young capuchin monkey.

A baby howler monkey clings to a young adult male capuchin monkey on Jicarón Island, Panama, in September 2022. Brendan Barrett / Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior via AP.

Starting in September, and over a period of six months, the researchers saw four other immature males—two subadults and two juveniles—carrying around howler infants. These capuchins had gotten ahold ...