Reaction of the captive infant baboon to a surrogate mother

Abstract

Baboon infants were captured with their mothers in the Loskopdam area. The infants were separated from their mothers and raised in a laboratory. Each infant was placed with a surrogate mother. The infants accepted their surrogate mothers immediately. The very young infants spent most of their time with the mother where they suckled and slept for long periods. The older infants spent less time with their mothers. They only returned to the mother to be fed, to sleep or when frightened. The surrogate mothers that we have designed satisfied the needs of the infant. Thus infants were raised successfully in the laboratory.