Instagrams animal videos got me thinking

I mentioned a bit ago that I have found myself watching little videos of baby animals.

I surprised myself since I have always said that cutesy is not something I do but…

I must have been very bored one day to have taken a peek.

I watch these videos on my Instagram and what ended up interesting me was not the happy cutesy ones.

There are mothers that are nurturing. But what caught my eye were the ones that appeared not to be. Some drag their young brutally. Some beat them and push them away.

Of course some babies go to the wrong mother and are pushed or smacked away.

I have seen large males grab a baby and try to run away with it but usually the mother will grab the baby back.

I have seen mothers carry a baby’s corpse, some of which are very decomposed.

So I did what I always do. Research.

Mothers will kill their own baby if something is wrong with it or if they don’t want it.

Males will (rarely) kidnap a baby and kill it, because and get this – as long as a female is nursing it cannot get pregnant (and those males are out to copulate and reproduce). Females can nurse their young up to four years (I think).

I read that monkeys recognize death but will continue carrying their deceased babies for a long time.

I learned that like the life we know there is cute, and joy, and nourishing, and teaching. But there is also isolation, rejection, pain, and grief.

Actually watching them makes me realize how very like the monkeys we are. So from North of 43 I contemplate just how connected life on this planet is.

Chris G Friday November 18th ‘22