By Matt Walker
Editor, BBC Nature
A wild male marmoset has been seen and filmed embracing and caring for his dying partner.
The female accidentally fell from a tree in the forests of Brazil and the male comforted her as she lay dying.
Such behaviour is "astounding", say scientists, having only been previously recorded in primates among chimpanzees and humans.
The marmosets were the dominant pair in their group, having been committed partners for three-and-a-half years.
Within months of the female's death, the male left the group, never to return.
Details of the extraordinary interaction are published in the journal Primates, along with a video recording the behaviour.
Primatologists spotted the two monkeys while observing common marmosets living in a fragment of Atlantic forest in northeast Brazil.
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