Monkeys keep pets and maintain friendships with other animals

AI Insight

Researchers have documented monkeys forming and maintaining social bonds with animals from other species, including behaviors that resemble pet-keeping. These interspecies relationships appear to involve deliberate care and repeated positive interactions rather than mere opportunistic encounters. The observations suggest that the capacity to form cross-species social bonds may have deeper evolutionary roots than previously understood.

Why it matters

This finding challenges the assumption that keeping pets and forming friendships with other species is uniquely human. Understanding the evolutionary origins of interspecies bonding could provide insights into how humans developed such extensive relationships with domesticated and wild animals.