{"id":143082,"date":"2025-05-31T05:11:03","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T05:11:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/the-bizarre-new-trend-shocking-scientists-source-teknomers\/"},"modified":"2025-05-31T05:11:05","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T05:11:05","slug":"the-bizarre-new-trend-shocking-scientists-source-teknomers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/the-bizarre-new-trend-shocking-scientists-source-teknomers\/","title":{"rendered":"The bizarre new trend shocking scientists. Source: Teknomers."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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On the \u00a0isolated island of Jicar\u00f3n\u00a0, off the coast of \u00a0Panama\u00a0, a perplexing phenomenon is captivating primatologists: \u00a0white-faced capuchin monkeys\u00a0 have adopted behaviors that have never been observed before in wild primates. Since 2022, several young males have begun \u00a0kidnapping\u00a0 infants from another species of monkey \u2014 the \u00a0howler monkeys\u00a0 \u2014 for reasons that remain unclear.<\/p>\n

Initially, this might have seemed like a behavioral anomaly. However, what began as a rare incident has transformed into a genuine \u00a0social trend\u00a0, alarming researchers who have been monitoring this unique population for years.<\/p>\n

A Confounding Scene in the Jungle<\/h2>\n

The whole situation started when doctoral researcher \u00a0Zo\u00eb Goldsborough\u00a0 was observing the capuchins of Jicar\u00f3n through \u00a0motion-detection cameras\u00a0. These primates are known for their intelligence and use of stone tools, and they were the subject of intensive observation. One day, while reviewing the thousands of videos accumulated, she stumbled upon a surprising scene: a young male capuchin carrying a baby \u00a0howler monkey\u00a0 on its back.<\/p>\n

This type of interspecies interaction had never before been documented on the island. Curious, Goldsborough delved into the archives and discovered four similar cases, all involving the same individual, nicknamed \u00a0\u201cJoker.\u201d\u00a0 At this point, researchers considered it a peculiar form of adoption.<\/p>\n

But soon, things took a dramatic turn.<\/p>\n

When a Peculiarity Becomes Fashionable<\/h2>\n

Five months later, videos revealed that other young male capuchins began doing the same. Over a period of 15 months, eleven distinct incidents of \u00a0howler monkey baby kidnapping\u00a0 were recorded. Always very young (under four weeks), these infants were spotted clinging to the bellies or backs of their abductors, following the group through the forest.<\/p>\n

The most puzzling aspect? The capuchins do not appear to be aggressive. \u201cThey do not harm them,\u201d Goldsborough emphasizes. However, they also do not feed them. Evidence suggests that none of the kidnapped infants survived due to the lack of maternal milk.<\/p>\n

A Cultural Tradition\u2026 Without Purpose<\/h2>\n

This behavior, as strange as it is tragic, does not seem to provide any clear advantage to the capuchins, nor does it appear to cause them any evident disadvantage. Researchers are observing the emergence of a \u201c\u00a0social tradition\u00a0\u201d \u2014 a non-human cultural phenomenon, passed down through learning among individuals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a social trend that spontaneously appeared in one individual and then spread to other young males,\u201d explains researcher \u00a0Brendan Barrett\u00a0.<\/p>\n

A tradition, yes \u2014 but without a clear function. A kind of \u00a0gratuitous innovation\u00a0, born out of boredom?<\/p>\n

A young male \u00a0white-faced capuchin monkey\u00a0 carrying a baby howler monkey, captured by a remote camera in Jicar\u00f3n. Credit: Brendan Barrett \/ Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Luxury of Animal Indolence?<\/h2>\n

This is precisely one of the hypotheses put forward by the team. On Jicar\u00f3n, the capuchins live in an \u00a0exceptionally safe environment\u00a0: no predators, few competitors, and a lush forest. This unique context might encourage the exploration of new behaviors, even those that appear absurd or non-adaptive.<\/p>\n

Meg Crofoot, director at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and co-founder of the project, succinctly summarizes the situation:<\/p>\n

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\u201cLife is easy on Jicar\u00f3n. The capuchins have free time and little constraint. Boredom, combined with their social intelligence, might explain the emergence of this strange tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A Threat to the Howler Monkeys<\/h2>\n

Yet beyond the fascinating aspect of this discovery, the ecological consequences are troubling. The howler monkeys of Jicar\u00f3n are already a threatened species. If this trend of kidnapping continues, it could severely impact the renewal of local populations.<\/p>\n

The phenomenon thus raises a disturbing paradox: a cultural behavior in an intelligent species, but with deleterious consequences for another.<\/p>\n

A Unique Story Worldwide<\/h2>\n

To date, no other population of wild primates has been observed practicing this kind of behavior. For researchers, this underscores the importance of monitoring these behavioral dynamics in real-time, especially in a context of global change, where ecological pressures and imbalances may lead to unexpected behaviors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWitnessing the birth and diffusion of this behavior has been overwhelming,\u201d concludes Crofoot. \u201cIt reminds us of how capable animals are of imitating, innovating, but also disrupting their environment.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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General News – 2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the \u00a0isolated island of Jicar\u00f3n\u00a0, off the coast of \u00a0Panama\u00a0, a perplexing phenomenon is captivating primatologists: \u00a0white-faced capuchin monkeys\u00a0 have adopted behaviors that have never been observed before in wild primates. Since 2022, several young males have begun \u00a0kidnapping\u00a0 infants from another species of monkey \u2014 the \u00a0howler monkeys\u00a0 \u2014 for reasons that remain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143083,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36399],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-143082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}