only ones interested in the new troop-mates; adult 

 females were also intrigued by these live-action pink 

 and black squeaky toys. 



Philippe was only four days old when he was "kid- 

 napped" by adult female "E73." At various times over 

 the next three months, six different females grabbed 

 him from his mother and carried him around for hours 

 at a time. One female, La Petite Belle, just couldn't get 

 enough of him. On fifty-six occasions she was spotted 

 with Philippe in her arms or on her back. Thirty-five 

 adult females out of the total forty-six were seen carry- 

 ing infants that were not theirs. Even mothers, who 

 presumably had their hands full, often went babysitting 

 when their own kid was with someone else. 



Stealing infants from their mothers wasn't the only 

 way females and infants interacted. Females also spent 

 much of their day walking up to mothers, cocking their 

 heads toward infants, and greeting the infant with a 

 teeth-chatter. These baby-greets might last for a few 

 seconds or evolve into five minutes of buzzing confu- 

 sion between the mother, the greeter, and the infant. 

 The mother and the visitor would grin and clack their 

 teeth together and nuzzle the infant. Sometimes the 

 nonmother threw her arm around the mother and pat- 

 ted her. This may be the Barbary macaque version of a 

 baby shower, only lacking the stuffed teddy-bear gift. 



Females often seemed mesmerized by the infants of 

 their friends. A female often moved quietly toward an 

 infant, peeked around its mother and took a sur- 

 reptitious look. She might then attempt a touch or 



Juvenile female tries to take one of the twins from tfie alpfia female. 



grab, or try to coax the infant away. Mothers didn't 

 usually protest much, and this makes sense. In the 

 analysis of my data, I determined that female babysit- 

 ters were usually well known to mothers and often 

 shared the same rank. Mothers need not fear these 

 females because they have a long-standing relation- 

 ship. In fact, aggressive acts toward infants were rare. 

 But why would females, especially those with their own 

 infants, want to lavish all that time and attention on 

 other babies? Just as in male-male-infant triads, infant- 

 sharing among females probably helps maintain 

 friendships. Infant greeting and babysitting not only 

 allows mothers and "aunts" time together, it also estab- 

 lishes new connections between infants and "aunts." 



Unlike adults, juvenile animals were often foiled in 

 their attempts to shanghai infants. These adolescent 

 monkeys usually staggered away, dragging an uncoop- 

 erative infant almost as big as themselves. Sometimes 

 young animals would rise up on their back legs and try 

 to steal an infant, furtively looking behind as they 

 clutched the baby to their chest, and stumbling bi- 

 pedally through the grass. Although young Barbary 

 females, and sometime males, were fascinated by in- 

 fants, they didn't get much chance to hone their skills; 

 babies were too often with adult males or females. Juve- 

 niles were most successful when the infant was a new 

 brother or sister. If they hung around their mother long 

 enough, chances were they would get an entree to the 

 infant. The two-year-old sister of Philippe spent most 

 of the spring following him around. Whenever he 

 spent time with a troop-mate, the older sister was right 

 at his side. 



Most of us humans can empathize with the Barbary 

 macaque fascination for infants. When a human baby 

 accompanies its parents to a gathering, the whole room 

 starts to revolve around that baby. We are attracted to 

 this miniature version of our own species, and perhaps 

 it's the same for Barbary macaques. But there must also 

 be important evolutionary reasons why this species 

 spends so much time riveted on infants. 



The key to understanding Barbary baby obsession is 

 the complex nature of their social interactions. Pri- 

 mates, especially monkeys, apes, and humans, are 

 adept social tacticians. Some scientists even believe 

 that our large human brains evolved to keep track of 

 social relationships. To operate as a primate in a large 

 group, one needs to remember who is related to whom, 

 who is an enemy and who is a friend. More impor- 

 tantly, those who form strong alliances often win in the 

 game of reproductive success; they produce more off- 

 spring and pass more genes onto the next generation. 



27 



