Losing a loved one is not easy, especially if the deceased is your child.
The same seems to apply to our simian cousins, as a monkey mother was recently spotted carrying a dead baby with her.
Moving along one of Singapore’s Park Connector Networks (PCN), several other monkeys with her also appeared distressed.
On 1 Sep, a Facebook user posted about the incident on the Singapore Wildlife Sightings page.
The OP shared that she had spotted a large group of macaques travelling along the PCN.
Passing by them, she noticed one of the adult monkeys carrying some sort of black object in one hand.
She caught sight of a tail, thinking that it could be a snake. She curiously inched closer to check, only to be horrified when she realised it was a dead baby macaque.
In the attached video, the monkey, presumably the mother, dragged its limp infant’s carcass along with her.
At one point, she also lifted and dropped it on the grass patch while walking.
Source: Facebook
The monkey mum even sniffed at the infant, which OP believed were attempts to wake it from its eternal sleep.
Following the mother and child were three adult macaques, appearing to be distressed at the tragic sight.
That small group of primates attempted to keep up with the rest of the group up front.
The OP, who described her heart wrenching at the sight, also saw four adult female macaques with their own babies on their chest and backs, seemingly oblivious to the suffering mother.
The mournful sight was something OP thought she would only see in a documentary.
Source: Facebook
She hoped the grieving mum would find peace in her heart and let her deceased child go soon.
Animal lovers of the Singapore Wildlife Sightings group similarly expressed their heartbreak at the sight. They joined the mum and the OP in mourning the baby.
Source: Facebook
Another commented that macaques reacted with the same crushing grief as humans when it came to losing their child.
Source: Facebook
One alleged that Singapore’s urbanisation destroyed much of the monkeys’ habitat, forcing them to hunt for food in surrounding shops. He lamented the lives of wild animals as a “never-ending sad story”.
As a matter of fact, in August, a group of macaques were spotted scaling the sides of a HDB block and stealing fruits.
Indeed, animals, though less intelligent, can experience grief and loss much in the same way us humans do.
In the BBC documentary Spy in the Wild, a Langur monkey community believed that a baby had died and went into a collective mourning.
Meanwhile, in 2018, an Orca mother similarly mourned her dead calf by carrying it for 17 days without eating in a sorrowful “tour of grief”.
Source: Center for Whale Research
For her sake, let’s hope the monkey mummy is able to process her loss and move on in a shorter time.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook.
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