Watch: Langurs in Rajasthan were moved to grief when they found BBC's baby robot monkey 'dead'
A rare display of mourning caught accidentally on camera.
A spy robot made to look like a baby langur sparked off moving scenes amidst a settlement of grey langurs in Rajasthan. Mistaken for a real baby, it became the object of general attention and attempts at baby-sitting.
The video above is from the BBC show Spy In The Wild, shot using replica animals with cameras hidden inside.
In this case, when the robot langur with the hidden camera falls from a tree trunk suddenly and lies motionless on the ground, the langurs think it has been injured – and, soon afterwards, that it has died. The result: shock and a deep sense of grief amongst the community, with the langurs gathering around one another and their own loved ones.
While most viewers were moved, too, some wondered whether the robot hadn’t actually “trolled” the langurs. This thread on Reddit wondered how guilty the langur must have felt for dropping the baby robot, or “killing” it.
“Can you imagine thinking you killed a baby but it was some alien infiltration robot. You went your whole life not knowing and instead wracked with guilt,” commented a Reddit member.