Kidnapper Comparison (Jollyroll’s Troop)

From Left to Right: Leyla, Possum, Tara

There are three juvenile/recently mature females that are kidnapping babies. They tend to get mistaken for each other. The kidnappers are: Leyla, Possum and Tara.

  • Leyla:
    • Has a “round” face, where as Possum and Tara have more elongated faces.
      • She has a smaller brow ridge than Possum.
    • She has a double chin when she looks down.
    • She has “bags” under her eyes. It always gives her the appearance of looking sad.
    • She looks to be pregnant.
    • She is gentler with the babies and doesn’t get aggressive toward them unless they try to leave.
    • She will kidnap both Charles and Amara.
    • She has small purple/gray nipples that can be seen through her fur.
      • Larger than Possum’s but smaller than Tara’s.
  • Possum:
    • She is lighter in color than both Leyla and Tara.
    • She mainly kidnaps Charles.
    • She is smaller and leaner than Leyla and Tara, because I think she’s younger. Out of the three she is the only one I don’t see mating.
    • She has a smaller face compared to Leyla and Tara.
    • She has a more pronounced brow ridge than Leyla.
  • Tara:
    • She has a very smooth face and fur.
    • All of her fur goes away from her face, unlike Leyla who has fur that is around her face.
    • She mainly kidnaps Amara.
    • She has a patch of dark brown fur on the top of her head.
    • Tara has very dark patches of fur on her cheeks.
    • Tara has visible nipples that are purple with pink tips.
    • She has a narrower patch of dark brown fur on her head.
      • Leyla and Possum have wider patches of lighter brown fur on their heads.
    • She has a more masculine face.

7 thoughts on “Kidnapper Comparison (Jollyroll’s Troop)

    • Leyla is a very pretty monkey. There have been a few videos of her kidnapping Charles and Amara. I think she doesn’t get filmed as much, because she generally treats the babies very well.

      Do you think it would be helpful if I linked a video next to the monkey’s name so that people can see them in action? I would essentially have a video of Leyla next to Leyla’s name that people could click on and view.

      Aw, thank you! I’m glad you’re enjoying the website. Things have been on hold since I was busy this last weekend and I’m just starting to get back into the swing of things. 🙂 I have had a lot of amazing help from people. I just need to get through all the emails!

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  1. I am watching a video of Leyla with Amara and comparing her to the pics on your page (because I wasn’t sure what one it was) and I noticed that she has a smaller brow ridge than Possum. It gives her a rounder eye look than Possum who has more of an almond shape? Just one other way to help me identify them.
    Thanks for all your hard work

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    • Debra – Oh! That’s a good catch. I’ll add that onto their lists. I always appreciate another set of eyes on the subtle differences of the monkeys. Sometimes I spend days watching a specific monkey and my eyes become used to them and I’m unable to think of any additional features that could be used to tell them apart. Thank you!

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  2. Thank you for the fantastic job!!!

    Other females in the group are intensely interested in newborns, and attempt to touch, groom, and take the infant from the mother. Sometimes they are successful in “kidnapping” the infant, and if the mother is unable to retrieve the newborn, it is likely to die. High-ranking females that “kidnap” low-ranking infants are more likely to prevent the mother from rescuing the infant and subsequently the infant is more likely to die (Wheatley 1999). If an infant dies, the mother will not reproduce again until the next year, thus “kidnapping” may be a way for high-ranking females to decrease the reproductive success of low-ranking females in the group. In the first year of life, the survival rate of long-tailed macaque infants is 81%, but the overall survival rate of long-tailed macaques from birth to four years is 68%

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