Adoption or Abduction?
Did this monkey take kitten in as a pet?
A young long-tailed macaque has been spotted in a forest treating a stray kitten as if it were his pet.
Amateur photographer Anne Young captured these photos while on vacation at the Monkey Forest Park, on the island of Bali, Indonesia.
We don’t know exactly what was going on, except that the kitten was apparently perfectly happy being nuzzled, cuddled and groomed by the monkey. Anne Young noted that the macaque got a bit nervous when he saw the camera being pointed at him and tried to shield the kitten from having her photo taken. (Hmm. Do macaques really understand the ins and outs of photography? Whatever …!)
But do non-human animals really take other animals in as pets? Most biologists say that this is a uniquely human activity, and that when other animals take in a “pet,” it doesn’t last long … or worse.
Incidentally, Hal Herzog takes up the topic of whether humans are the only animals who keep pets in his column here on Zoe.