What happened to baboon with lion cub?

A male baboon carrying and grooming a lion cub is a rare sight, yet it happened over the weekend in South Africa’s Kruger National Park. The baboon took the cub up into a tree and preened it as if it were its own, said safari operator Kurt Schultz, who in 20 years had never seen such behavior.

Do baboons adopt lion cubs?

Adult baboons are known to kill leopard and lion cubs when they find them unattended by adult lions. “ ‘The Lion King’ is not reality,” Schultz said, laughing at the comparison. “Baboons don’t hold up lion cubs in real life. It’s a good story, but untrue.”

Can a baboon raise a lion cub?

“Male baboons do a lot of grooming but the care given to this lion cub was the same care given by a female baboon to one of her own young.” Schultz said when he first saw the baboons early Saturday, the troop of baboons was excited and animated. It is possible they had discovered the lion cub, he said.

Do monkeys kidnap lion cubs?

Latest Sightings is an app that enables visitors to document their experience at the park in real-time. According to sightings reported to the app, the cub did not survive. While the involvement of a lion cub is unique, kidnapping in itself is not an uncommon behavior among baboon species, and monkeys more generally.

Do baboons steal human babies?

There you have it. The kidnapping of babies and infants is indeed part of the behavioral repertoire of some types of baboons.

Why do male baboons kidnap infants?

When tensions are high in the troop, a male may kidnap an infant and carry her until tensions subside. In this way, males use infants as agonistic buffers. They carry infants not to protect them but to protect themselves.

Why do male monkeys kidnap baby monkeys?

The reason why monkeys kidnap other baby monkeys, is that many female monkeys are interested in new-born babies. They will try to groom the new-born, try to touch the baby or ultimately kidnap the baby from the mother.

Do baboons steal lion cubs?

“In 20 years of guiding southern and east Africa, I have witnessed baboons viciously killing leopard cubs and have heard of baboons killing lion cubs. But I have never seen the care and attention given to a lion cub in this manner.” Schultz doesn’t see a chance of this poor cub surviving.

Do baboons eat their own babies?

Desiring to father their own offspring, highly aggressive alpha males often resort to infanticide — killing baboon babies that are still dependent on their mothers’ milk.