This is the heartbreaking moment a grieving mother monkey cannot leave her dead infant’s side so carries and cradles it for hours on end.
In the emotional footage captured in Ranthambhore National Park, Rajasthan, India, the mother langur can be seen sitting in a tree with the infant draped in her arms.
The mother tries to encourage the infant – believed to be two days old – to feed, as well as interacting with other langurs, but to no avail.
The mother langur monkey cradles her dead infant while sitting in a tree at Ranthambhore National Park, Rajasthan, India
When another monkey jumps onto the tree and touches the infant’s face, there’s no response causing the monkey to gently embrace the distraught mother.
The mother then cradles her baby and spins around making sure to keep the infant close to her at all times.
She picks it up and pats the infant’s back but the baby just flops around in her arms.
The mother then looks around her multiple times before jumping down from the branch, with the baby still in her arms, and heading towards an open space.
While sitting there she rests the infant on the ground but stays close by watching over it and looks into the distance with a sad expression.
Photographer Archna Singh captured the moment during the height of a heatwave, where temperatures reached 49C in Ranthambhore National Park, speculating that this may have caused the infant’s death.
She moves to an open space but refuses to leave the baby’s side for more than two hours
The mother kisses her unresponsive infant, who is believed to be two days old, and tries to get it to move but to no avail
Archna, from New Delhi, India, said: ‘I captured this moment from far away with the help of zoom lenses as to not invade the privacy of the mom at such a sensitive time.
‘She knew he was dead but was not ready to believe or accept it.’
When she arrived the infant monkey was barely alive but after following the pair over two hours, Archna said she witnessed the baby taking its last breath.
Archna added: ‘It was a highly emotional time for me to capture the footage – I cried the whole time.
She tenderly rests her hand on the infant’s body as they sit in quietly in the open space
‘I always believe animals feel just like humans do, but to witness this intense grief of the mother langur was something else.
‘No parent should ever have to undergo the loss of a child, and this only validated my belief further that animals are just as sensitive as we humans are.
‘Most people have cried, men and women alike, and I have received very emotional messages about it.’
After observing the pair for a number of hours, Archna said the mother then disappeared into the jungle, still carrying the dead baby.
