Fatal intragroup kidnapping in yellow baboons.

The fatal kidnapping of a 5-day-old baboon (Papio cynocephalus) in Amboseli National Park, Kenya, is described. Although pulling and rough handling of primate infants by nonmothers are frequently observed, records of fatal intragroup kidnappings are rare. In the instance described here, the mother, a healthy, primiparous female, did not retrieve the infant from the kidnapper, a higher-ranking juvenile female of the same group, until he died 3 days later, presumably from starvation or dehydration. This incident is compared with other fatal intragroup kidnappings in nonhuman primates and related to adaptive interpretations.

An intergroup encounter with fatal consequences in yellow baboons (Papio cynocephalus).

This paper describes the fatal wounding of an infant yellow baboon (Papio cynocephalus) and the severe injury of its mother during an encounter between two baboon groups with overlapping home ranges in Amboseli National Park, Kenya. Also, a description is given of the apparent use of the infant as an agonistic buffer by an adult male in fights with other males.