Baboons also find friends to share

Photo: Science

The baboon girls who lost their loved ones also came to other friends to be comforted and encouraged.

Researchers have observed more than 80 different monkeys over 14 years at the Okavango Delta in Botswana.

The results provided the first evidence that some animals mourned the loss of their fellow human beings, even when all the remaining animals remained unmoved. The results also show that friendship is as important to primates as it is to humans.

The researchers were particularly impressed by the behavior of a baboon named Sylvia. The girl was dubbed the "miserable queen" and very despised by others, until she lost her daughter Sierra due to the lion's attack.

" In a week after Sierra died, Sylvia completely seized herself, " said Anne Engh, the head of the project. " When other monkeys gathered and groomed each other, she just sat alone and rarely communicated with relatives ."

Engh, a researcher at the Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, added: " After a sullen two weeks, Sylvia suddenly started talking to some of the lower-class children. It seems like these animals are also amazing. However, at first they were frightened, and Sylvia finally created a close relationship with a very low-class female and with the daughter of Sierra, Margaret .

Engh said grooming is a friendly behavior similar to two friends who just drink and talk. This activity helps relax and reduce stress hormones. This hormone increases in humans and baboons when a close friend or relative dies.

The researchers calculated the glucocorticoid stress hormone in Sylvia and 20 other females. Monkeys who lost their loved ones had a spike in hormone levels. These sad animals later expanded their relationship by approaching and grooming other monkeys, regardless of status. This will help them face the loss, as the stress hormone levels decrease significantly after that.

Engh also said there were heterosexual friendships in baboons. In those relationships, females often groom the males, while males protect her and her females from being bullied or attacked.

MT