Baby Alfie Nurses From Grandma Bonita as Mom Amanda Watches

A baby macaque named Alfie climbs into the lap of an older female, Bonita, and settles in to nurse from her — while his own mother, Amanda, sits only a few feet away and watches. It’s an unusual family moment, caught on camera in this footage from the Mbappe Monkey channel, and it plays out slowly in the grass beside a dirt path.

What happens in the video

The footage opens with Bonita seated on a patch of bright green grass, Alfie curled against her chest with one small hand gripping her fur. Amanda, identified as Alfie’s mother, sits close by on Bonita’s other side, watching the pair rather than intervening. The three of them are near a stretch of bare dirt, the kind of open ground common in the areas where this troop spends its days.

Later in the clip, the scene shifts to a spot with old stone structures half-covered in moss, the kind of weathered ruins found in parts of Cambodia. Here Alfie is shown as a small, independent figure hopping along a mossy stone ledge, a short distance from a cluster of adult macaques including one with a visibly pink patch on her side. It’s a reminder that even while he’s begging for comfort from Bonita, Alfie is also already moving around on his own, testing his balance on rock and root.

Earlier moments in the footage show a young macaque investigating a chunk of broken concrete or stone sitting in the grass, poking at it with obvious curiosity while an adult sits nearby, one arm wrapped protectively around her own midsection. The grass throughout is thick and vivid green, freshly grown, suggesting a wet spell in the weather.

Why would a baby macaque nurse from another female?

In macaque troops, close relatives — especially grandmothers — often stay physically near infants and young juveniles, and it’s not unusual for a young one to seek comfort or contact from more than one female in the group. The filmmaker’s description frames this particular moment as Alfie “begging” Bonita to nurse him, with Amanda watching on, described as unhappy about it.

Whether or not Bonita actually has milk to offer, the behavior itself — an infant pressing in against an older female’s body, gripping and rooting the way nursing infants do — is a recognizable part of how young macaques seek closeness and reassurance, not just food.

A troop with names

This footage comes from a channel that follows an established group of macaques, each individually named — Alfie, Bonita, and Amanda among them, alongside a longer list of others in what the filmmaker calls the Sovanna group. Watching the same animals across videos lets viewers pick up on relationships like this one, where a grandmother, mother, and infant all sit within arm’s reach of each other in the grass.

[“macaque”, “baby monkey”, “cambodia wildlife”, “monkey family”, “wild macaque troop”, “primate behavior”]
Wildlife
[“A baby macaque named Alfie is shown nursing from or seeking to nurse from an older female named Bonita, identified as his grandmother”, “His mother, Amanda, sits nearby and is described by the filmmaker as watching unhappily”, “Footage also shows a young macaque poking at a chunk of stone/concrete in grass while an adult sits nearby”, “Later footage shows Alfie moving independently across mossy stone ruins near other adult macaques, one with a visible pink mark on her side”, “The animals are part of a named troop the filmmaker calls the Sovanna group”]
Baby Alfie nurses in grandmother Bonita’s arms as his mother Amanda sits close by