"Do my hair before you touch my baby" is the rule among mother vervet monkeys and sooty mangabeys when it comes to letting a neighbor snuggle their infants. As in some other primates, monkey babies attract crowds of females eager to touch, hold and make silly lip-smacking noises at the little ones, says primatolo-gist Cecile Fruteau of Tilburg University in the Netherlands. Her novel study of infant-touching etiquette in the vervets and mangabeys adds them to the short list of animals known to have "markets" for baby fondling: Moms must be groomed for a sufficient time before they let the groomer touch the baby.
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