Baboons With Pet Dogs

10/03/2012

The video below shows some fascinatingly odd animal behavior that I've never heard of before: baboons stealing stray puppies from their mothers and raising them as part of their troop.  

This kind of interspecies interaction where one species raises another species specifically for companionship and protection--in other words, keeping pets--is behavior that is typically attributed only to humans.  To see it happening with baboons and dogs is nothing short of amazing.  

Warning, the beginning is a little difficult to watch, as a male baboon very undelicately kidnaps a stray puppy, but keep watching, it's worth it.

VIDEO: Watch more baboon behavior from Animal Planet.

Photo via animalplanet.com's baboon profile page.