Scientists in the Ifrane National Park in Morocco have observed surprising expressions of sympathy for the wounded stranger. A young male Berber monkey, nicknamed Pipo, was hit by a car on the road and fell behind his social group.
For a while, Pipo wandered alone, weak, defenseless and suffering from wounds. In the end, he probably would have died, completely weak from hunger, but another flock of Berber macaques stumbled upon him in time.
Usually macaques do not accept strangers into their group, with the exception of very small cubs, to which the maternal instinct can awaken in females. However, Pipo was already almost an adult, and nevertheless, a foreign pack accepted him.
And not only accepted, but began to take care of him, helping with food, caring for his fur and warming him at night. They took care of him for four months before Pipo's wounds did not heal at all. And after Pipo recovered and gained strength, he left this group and went to look for his flock, soon finding it.
According to scientists, every year they receive more and more evidence that monkeys are more sensitive to each other than we thought and show strong empathy (empathy, compassion). However, in this case, such empathy was shown to a sick stranger, and in fact such people are usually simply driven away.
According to scientists, the amazing kindness of males of Berber macaques to their young, including grown-up ones, most likely played a role here. Males of other monkeys (and most mammals in general), as a rule, either do not pay attention to young animals at all, or are aggressive towards them. Berber males, on the contrary, love to care for babies, and do not divide them into friends and foes, treating everyone equally.
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