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Habitat and Diet

The capuchin monkey lives in the Neotropics of Central and South America, east of the Andes from Colombia and Venezuela to Paraguay and northern Argentina (animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu). The capuchin inhabits a variety of habitats, but is most common in dry, deciduous and rain forests within savannah habitats (Kleinman et al, 2003; O’Brien and Robinson, 1993). The capuchin prefers to forage and live in the mid-canopy or understory, but descends from the trees to drink water, play and continue foraging.

The capuchin is omnivorous, with the majority of their diet consisting of fruit. Fruit is the desired food of the capuchin because it is rich in lipids and they are able to maximize the energy spent foraging for food by consuming smaller amounts of fruit. Capuchins supplement fruit with vegetation, seeds, pith, insects, pith, reptiles, birds and small mammals (Tuttle, 1975; animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu). Nevertheless, the diet of the capuchin consists of 65% fruits, 20% animal prey and 15% leaves and stems (Tuttle, 1975). During the dry season when fruit is scarce, C. apella monkeys depend upon the Scheelea palm frond pith and Astrocaryum palm nuts for survival (Robinson and Janson, 1987). Capuchins hit fruit or nuts on hard surfaces to soften them prior to eating or crack them to get to the seeds, further exemplifying their high intelligence level. This use of tools for food attainment is unique to the capuchin, allowing them to gain access to food in hard-to-reach areas (Jolly, 1985). Furthermore, because of their variable diet and dexterity, a changing environment does not alter the interactions among individual capuchins as their foraging methodology allows them to find food when resources are generally low (Tuttle, 1975).

This webpage was created by Kathleen Tanner in partial fulfillment of requirements for an undergraduate biology class in Animal Behavior at Davidson Collegein Spring 2005. Questions should be addressed to katanner@davidson.edu.