Fatal intragroup kidnapping in yellow baboons.

Abstract

The fatal kidnapping of a 5-day-old baboon (Papio cynocephalus) in Amboseli National Park, Kenya, is described. Although pulling and rough handling of primate infants by nonmothers are frequently observed, records of fatal intragroup kidnappings are rare. In the instance described here, the mother, a healthy, primiparous female, did not retrieve the infant from the kidnapper, a higher-ranking juvenile female of the same group, until he died 3 days later, presumably from starvation or dehydration. This incident is compared with other fatal intragroup kidnappings in nonhuman primates and related to adaptive interpretations.