Watch: Zoo monkey eating her baby’s dead body in Czech Republic

A monkey from a zoo in Czech Republic, a country in Europe was seen eating her baby’s dead body several days after it died. She carried her baby’s corpse for several days after its demise. It is believed that the mother monkey’s unusual actions may improve her chances of having another child in the future.

The incident took place in August 2023, when the female drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus), named Kumasi, gave birth to a son at the Dvůr Králové safari park in the Czech Republic. But after eight days, the infant died. The cause of the death was however never determined but the infant was not deemed to be in poor health when it was born.

Following the death of the baby monkey, Kumasi carried her child’s corpse around her enclosure for almost two days and prevented keepers from removing the body. By the end of the second day, things turned ugly as Kumasi began eating her dead baby. She ingested most of the remains before the body was eventually removed.

Researchers who were studying the drill troop documented the entire incident. The researcher team who were studying the drill troop described about the event in a study published on June 27 in the journal Primates. They have also shared the videos of Kumasi eating her own child.

It is not clear exactly how many times infant cannibalism has been documented, but it is very rare. “In scientific literature, you can find only anecdotal reports,” said one of the Co-author of the study.

Following the death of the infant, Kumasi kept her infant close to her as other members of the troop came to inspect the child’s lifeless body for two days. It is believed that the mother monkey may have been grieving for her child, but the researchers suspect that she may actually have been unsure or unwilling to accept that her baby is dead. The experts says that the monkey did cannibalism for improving reproductivity.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Kalinga TV (@kalingatv24x7)