I recently was a witness as to how deeply embedded the paternal instinct truly is.

I was in Costa Rica with my family at an animal reserve. Most of my family went off exploring while I volunteered to stay back in the shade with my nine-month-old granddaughter, Taylor. While alone in the shade, Taylor and I remained near an enclosure in which monkeys were housed.

Initially, I was singing and playing with a very happy and giggling Taylor. As Taylor and I were playing, I noticed a particular monkey close by in the enclosure, almost gleefully, watching us.   After a while, Taylor began to get fussy. As I was tending to her, I noticed our monkey friend also became agitated. The more upset Taylor became, the more agitated our monkey friend became.

In the midst of this, I noticed one of the workers watching us. I questioned the worker about the monkey’s behavior. I was told that the monkey was a mother and was reacting naturally to seeing a child in distress. We both noticed that as I got Taylor to calm down and go to sleep, the monkey calmed down as well. Once Taylor was in her stroller asleep, our friend the monkey left us for another part of the enclosure.  

It truly was fascinating to observe how deeply ingrained the parental instinct can be.