The Capuchin monkey belongs to the Cebidae family and for this reason it is also called Cebus, but most of us have heard of it with the name of capuchin monkey, easier to remember. It is one of the most famous monkeys that exist, it lives in South America and has distinctive characteristics that actually make us remember it more than its other colleagues. We just have to get to know it better, we will discover that it can also teach us something about nutrition .
Cebus or Capuchin Monkey: Characteristics
There are monkeys that are larger than an average man, others that are small, like our cebus, about 45-50 centimeters long. It has a prehensile tail that acts as a fifth limb, it can use it just as if it were a hand. The presence of some dark tufts on the forehead that have a particular meaning, are connected to dominance in the group, stands out in the body of this monkey.
The character of the Cebus or capuchin monkey is decidedly sociable, it lives in groups and shares its possessions with the group.
Cebus or Capuchin Monkey: Varieties
The horned capuchin monkey, the best known, the most widespread primate in the Neotropics after humans, with brown fur and a black tuft on its head.
The Azara capuchin monkey , with longer fur but very similar to the Capuchin Monkey
The Capuchin monkey has black and white fur and is called this because its head resembles that of the Capuchin friars.
Cebus or capuchin monkey: habitat
All these varieties live in South America , in the area towards the North, or in Central America, especially in the tropical forests where they find a lot to eat. The yellow-breasted capuchin and the white-capped capuchin are threatened and it is necessary to protect them but there are other species that are in danger. This monkey is in fact much loved and often falls victim to illegal animal trafficking . We also find them in the world of cinema, because they are the perfect monkey to be an extra. What certainly endangers this animal is also the deforestation that is eroding its food reserve, the forest.
Cebus or Capuchin Monkey: Root Lover
The time has come to discover one of the most interesting sides of this monkey, its behavior while eating . Its diet is mainly composed of fruit, leaves and small animals, such as birds or insects. It has very original abilities that make us smile but also reflect. Its manual skills and its ingenuity are phenomenal, it knows how to use rocks and stones to crack nuts, for example, and then uses onions as a remedy against mosquitoes and as a disinfectant. It sweeps them and then covers itself with their liquid, precisely to keep insects and bacteria away from itself.
Recently, a study has also highlighted the ability of Cebus to extract rhizotubers, which are very rich in nutrients, from the soil. Conducted by the Cnr-Istc and published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, the research focused on bearded capuchins (Sapajus libidinosus), highlighting their manual ability to extract roots rich in nutrients. Not only do they pull them out of the ground with a few gestures, but they also know how to clean them from the soil and “peele” them so as to eat them without the rind.
The study is part of a larger international project called “ EthoCebus ” and was carried out by observing a group of capuchin monkeys in Brazil very closely for three whole months, and filming them, so as to better analyse their behaviour.
The hands of these little monkeys are very small and fast, it was not at all easy to capture their movements and then analyze them frame by frame. Only in this way, however, were we able to understand well how they feed on the roots: in six phases. They dig, they extract them, they transport them, they clean them from the soil and the bark and finally they crush them to eat them better. All this happens with precise and fast gestures, performed automatically and with great mastery. To clean the roots from the soil, for example, they roll them and rub them between their hands and against the bark to avoid swallowing it.
Many of us will be thinking that it is quite a lot of effort to eat only one root but the Cebus knows well that it is worth it, to reach a specific balance between protein and non-protein energy. The rhizotubers are perfect, therefore, because they are an excellent source of non-structural carbohydrates, such as starch. The inhabitants of those areas call these roots in turn “raiz de macaco”, roots of the monkey, even if they have long ago also fed many humans at the limit of survival.
This study on a primate also tells us something about us. It brings to our attention the obvious importance that manual ability in performing a wide variety of actions and persistence in pursuing a desired goal are factors that lead one species to evolve and resist and another not. As primates, we too have these characteristics and can recognize in ourselves the ability to skillfully use our hands and to remain busy for long periods in order to extract food resources from resistant matrices.
Capuchin Monkey: The Risk to the Babies
Capuchin monkeys, due to their cute appearance and their ability to be trained, have been separated from their parents for many years to be illegally sold to traveling circuses or to be used as “actresses” in films.
Fortunately, the use of animals in circuses is now strictly regulated in much of the world, and the use of capuchin monkeys in film productions has been made superfluous by the evolution of computer graphics, whereby a monkey or other animal can be created and virtually animated.
A risk that is instead growing and that risks putting the capuchin monkey species at risk is linked to deforestation that in many areas of our planet continues indiscriminately, despite the resulting climate changes being now before our eyes.