Date: 23/06/2026 23:39:44
From: dv
ID: 2403842
Subject: Capuchin adopt howlers

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/19/nx-s1-5395983/baby-monkey-kidnappings-capuchin-howler-culture

On an island in Panama, a fad that one researcher called “viscerally disturbing” has recently taken off among a group of young male monkeys.

These adolescents and juveniles have started to kidnap the infants of another monkey species, seemingly just for kicks.

That’s what scientists think after watching a bunch of male white-faced capuchin monkeys walking around with baby howler monkeys clinging to their backs.

The perplexing baby-snatchings, reported in the journal Current Biology, suggest that humans aren’t the only intelligent species with youngsters that pursue apparently pointless activities that can be destructive to other creatures.

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)00372-0

Rise and spread of a social tradition of interspecies abduction

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Date: 23/06/2026 23:58:57
From: SCIENCE
ID: 2403843
Subject: re: Capuchin adopt howlers

dv said:

humans aren’t the only intelligent species with youngsters that pursue apparently pointless activities that can be destructive

yeah well we wouldn’t‘ve thought this great thing to be proud of would for some reason be restricted to any given species

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