Capuchin Monkeys
Capuchin Monkeys: Wild vs Captive
INTRODUCTION
Capuchins have traditionally been in the genus, Cebus Erxleben from the family Cabidae. There had been four species recognized among the capuchins, such as: Cebus albifrons, Cebus olivaceus, Cebus capucinus, and Cebus apella, all of which are a taxonomy that dominated capuchin history for an approximation of 50 years (Lynch Alfaro et al., 2014). Over the years more capuchins had been recognized as well such as, Cebus kaapori, Cebus libidinosus, Cebus nigritus, Cebus queirozi, and finally Cebus xanthosternos. In a physical sense, capuchin monkeys weigh around six to twelve pounds and live over five decades. In contrast to New World Monkeys, they have robust jaw and dental structures, large brains …show more content…
For example, wild tufted capuchin monkeys are capable of using tools to open up fruits, the husks cannot open in it’s teeth or jaws so therefore, they use tools to smash them open (Gron, 2009). They have been observed in utilizing a stick to club a snake and shells to crack open oysters as well as other insects. The capuchin monkeys’ ability to use and modify the sticks as probes, and stone and bone fragments as cutting and nut-cracking instruments without any training nor human demonstration is extremely surprising, however possible (Westergaard, 1995). Usually managing to grasp and understand the method of handling a tool to do certain things, takes years to figure out for primates however, with this ability by the capuchin monkeys, they have a high level of …show more content…
Sometimes even for pure entertainment, in popular zoos around the world, to exhibits from national primate research centers to small academic institutions with very few capuchin monkeys (Fragaszy, 2005). Since the captive capuchin monkeys are used for research and entertainment, they must be cared for in health and behavioral matters. Therefore, those individuals and institutions caring for captive primates are obligated to ensure the primates are in an adequate facility (Fragaszy, 2005). However, wild capuchin monkeys don’t have the luxury for anyone to facilitate a specific living area for them. These primates learn to survive in groups throughout their entire lives. Males, females, and the young primates travel, sleep, and feed one another everyday (Fragaszy, 2005). Similar to the captive capuchin monkeys, they live compatible in pairs or groups. Capuchin monkeys endure hardships if faced of living alone, therefore a companion is required for them to live happily. They can also associate and live with other species such as, squirrel monkeys. And in addition, if one of the capuchin monkeys is lost, they simply call out loudly and vigorously searches for its group, until it is able to find and join it once again (Fragaszy, 2005). However, a key difference between the captive and wild capuchin monkeys is that, captive capuchin monkeys are unable to solve everyday problems that wild
INTRODUCTION
Capuchins have traditionally been in the genus, Cebus Erxleben from the family Cabidae. There had been four species recognized among the capuchins, such as: Cebus albifrons, Cebus olivaceus, Cebus capucinus, and Cebus apella, all of which are a taxonomy that dominated capuchin history for an approximation of 50 years (Lynch Alfaro et al., 2014). Over the years more capuchins had been recognized as well such as, Cebus kaapori, Cebus libidinosus, Cebus nigritus, Cebus queirozi, and finally Cebus xanthosternos. In a physical sense, capuchin monkeys weigh around six to twelve pounds and live over five decades. In contrast to New World Monkeys, they have robust jaw and dental structures, large brains …show more content…
For example, wild tufted capuchin monkeys are capable of using tools to open up fruits, the husks cannot open in it’s teeth or jaws so therefore, they use tools to smash them open (Gron, 2009). They have been observed in utilizing a stick to club a snake and shells to crack open oysters as well as other insects. The capuchin monkeys’ ability to use and modify the sticks as probes, and stone and bone fragments as cutting and nut-cracking instruments without any training nor human demonstration is extremely surprising, however possible (Westergaard, 1995). Usually managing to grasp and understand the method of handling a tool to do certain things, takes years to figure out for primates however, with this ability by the capuchin monkeys, they have a high level of …show more content…
Sometimes even for pure entertainment, in popular zoos around the world, to exhibits from national primate research centers to small academic institutions with very few capuchin monkeys (Fragaszy, 2005). Since the captive capuchin monkeys are used for research and entertainment, they must be cared for in health and behavioral matters. Therefore, those individuals and institutions caring for captive primates are obligated to ensure the primates are in an adequate facility (Fragaszy, 2005). However, wild capuchin monkeys don’t have the luxury for anyone to facilitate a specific living area for them. These primates learn to survive in groups throughout their entire lives. Males, females, and the young primates travel, sleep, and feed one another everyday (Fragaszy, 2005). Similar to the captive capuchin monkeys, they live compatible in pairs or groups. Capuchin monkeys endure hardships if faced of living alone, therefore a companion is required for them to live happily. They can also associate and live with other species such as, squirrel monkeys. And in addition, if one of the capuchin monkeys is lost, they simply call out loudly and vigorously searches for its group, until it is able to find and join it once again (Fragaszy, 2005). However, a key difference between the captive and wild capuchin monkeys is that, captive capuchin monkeys are unable to solve everyday problems that wild