Tool use and manufactureEdit
The tufted capuchin has been observed using containers to hold water, using sticks (to dig nuts, to dip for syrup, to catch ants, to reach food), using sponges to absorb juice, using stones as hammer and chisel to penetrate a barrier[13] and using stones as hammer and anvil to crack nuts.[14] While some of these tasks are relatively simple by cognitive standards (e.g. using a stick to catch ants), others, like cracking nuts with hammer and anvil are only exceeded in complexity by chimpanzees.[15]
The potential for tool use in animals like the tufted capuchin depends on a number of conditions that would increase its likelihood of appearing in a given species. Van Schaik proposed that the occurrence of tool use would be likely in foraging species if three factors were present: manual dexterity, intelligence, and social tolerance.[16] As it applies to manual dexterity, capuchins are capable of a limited precision grip (the ability to delicately pinch and manipulate objects with the thumb and fingertips), which is not found in any other New World monkeys and only found in limited amounts in apes.[17][18] C. apella has an encephalization ratio greater than the hominids (except humans) and a neocortex ratio that is almost as large as the apes; both of these rough indicators suggest high intelligence.[19][20] Finally, the tufted capuchin forms social groups typical of a complex and tolerant society.[21][22]
The tufted capuchin has been observed manufacturing tools both in captivity and in the wild. In captivity, it has been reported as making probing sticks to reach normally inaccessible containers with syrup.[23] It is also capable of understanding the concept of "sponging" and using paper towels, monkey biscuits, sticks, leaves and straw to sop up juice and then suck on the sponge to consume the juice.[23] Research in the wild has shown that capuchin tool use is every bit as extensive as in captivity with capuchins being observed using stones to dig holes to get at tubers, an activity previously only seen in humans.[24] The practice of using stones to crack nuts has arisen spontaneously in many locations such as in the Caatinga Dry Forest[24] and Serra da Capivara National Park,[25] all in Brazil and hundreds of miles apart. It has been observed cracking various nuts and fruits such as palm nuts (Attalea and Astrocaryum spp.)[26] and jatobá fruits.(Hymenaea courbaril)[25] The tufted capuchin has even been observed using stones to dislodge other stones that would later be used as hammers or shovels, an example of a more complex tool using behavior known as second-order tool use previously only found in chimpanzees.[25] Curiously, not all tufted capuchins engage in tool use. Moura and Lee (2004)[27] suggest lack of other food sources as the key factor. Ottoni and Mannu (2001),[28] Fragaszy et al. (2004)[26] and Visalberghi et al. (2005)[29] have proposed this is likely more a factor of a monkey's terrestrial habit: the more time a monkey spends on the ground, the more likely it is to profit from (and thus engage in) tool use.
In captivity, the tufted capuchin has been seen to manufacture stone tools that produced simple flakes and cores. Some of the capuchins even used these sharpened stones to cut (in a back-and-forth motion) barriers in order to reach food.[30] The importance of this behavior is that it serves as evidence of mechanical proclivity to modify stones by using behaviors already in the monkeys' repertoires, and this behavior is seen as a precursor to stone-knapping.[17] This early and limited tool use behavior has been hypothesized as similar to pre-Homo habilis and that artifacts of that time would probably resemble those of capuchins.[30]
S. apella tool manufacture and use has been analyzed for potential clues to social learning and problem solving ability, as tool manufacture and use can often shed light on such complex cognitive abilities.[13][31] Social learning, or the ability to learn from other individuals, is a controversial topic in most nonhuman species like S. apella because of the relative difficulty of determining whether a behavior was learned from imitation or a much simpler form of social learning.[32] One way of closing the gap between concurrent tool related behaviors and their likelihood of arising from imitation is by narrowing down events that would make social learning more probable such as a preference for observing experienced tool users. In this regard, Ottoni and his team found that young capuchins tended to observe the best tool users when cracking nuts.[14]
The tufted capuchin has been observed using containers to hold water, using sticks (to dig nuts, to dip for syrup, to catch ants, to reach food), using sponges to absorb juice, using stones as hammer and chisel to penetrate a barrier[13] and using stones as hammer and anvil to crack nuts.[14] While some of these tasks are relatively simple by cognitive standards (e.g. using a stick to catch ants), others, like cracking nuts with hammer and anvil are only exceeded in complexity by chimpanzees.[15]
The potential for tool use in animals like the tufted capuchin depends on a number of conditions that would increase its likelihood of appearing in a given species. Van Schaik proposed that the occurrence of tool use would be likely in foraging species if three factors were present: manual dexterity, intelligence, and social tolerance.[16] As it applies to manual dexterity, capuchins are capable of a limited precision grip (the ability to delicately pinch and manipulate objects with the thumb and fingertips), which is not found in any other New World monkeys and only found in limited amounts in apes.[17][18] C. apella has an encephalization ratio greater than the hominids (except humans) and a neocortex ratio that is almost as large as the apes; both of these rough indicators suggest high intelligence.[19][20] Finally, the tufted capuchin forms social groups typical of a complex and tolerant society.[21][22]
The tufted capuchin has been observed manufacturing tools both in captivity and in the wild. In captivity, it has been reported as making probing sticks to reach normally inaccessible containers with syrup.[23] It is also capable of understanding the concept of "sponging" and using paper towels, monkey biscuits, sticks, leaves and straw to sop up juice and then suck on the sponge to consume the juice.[23] Research in the wild has shown that capuchin tool use is every bit as extensive as in captivity with capuchins being observed using stones to dig holes to get at tubers, an activity previously only seen in humans.[24] The practice of using stones to crack nuts has arisen spontaneously in many locations such as in the Caatinga Dry Forest[24] and Serra da Capivara National Park,[25] all in Brazil and hundreds of miles apart. It has been observed cracking various nuts and fruits such as palm nuts (Attalea and Astrocaryum spp.)[26] and jatobá fruits.(Hymenaea courbaril)[25] The tufted capuchin has even been observed using stones to dislodge other stones that would later be used as hammers or shovels, an example of a more complex tool using behavior known as second-order tool use previously only found in chimpanzees.[25] Curiously, not all tufted capuchins engage in tool use. Moura and Lee (2004)[27] suggest lack of other food sources as the key factor. Ottoni and Mannu (2001),[28] Fragaszy et al. (2004)[26] and Visalberghi et al. (2005)[29] have proposed this is likely more a factor of a monkey's terrestrial habit: the more time a monkey spends on the ground, the more likely it is to profit from (and thus engage in) tool use.
In captivity, the tufted capuchin has been seen to manufacture stone tools that produced simple flakes and cores. Some of the capuchins even used these sharpened stones to cut (in a back-and-forth motion) barriers in order to reach food.[30] The importance of this behavior is that it serves as evidence of mechanical proclivity to modify stones by using behaviors already in the monkeys' repertoires, and this behavior is seen as a precursor to stone-knapping.[17] This early and limited tool use behavior has been hypothesized as similar to pre-Homo habilis and that artifacts of that time would probably resemble those of capuchins.[30]
S. apella tool manufacture and use has been analyzed for potential clues to social learning and problem solving ability, as tool manufacture and use can often shed light on such complex cognitive abilities.[13][31] Social learning, or the ability to learn from other individuals, is a controversial topic in most nonhuman species like S. apella because of the relative difficulty of determining whether a behavior was learned from imitation or a much simpler form of social learning.[32] One way of closing the gap between concurrent tool related behaviors and their likelihood of arising from imitation is by narrowing down events that would make social learning more probable such as a preference for observing experienced tool users. In this regard, Ottoni and his team found that young capuchins tended to observe the best tool users when cracking nuts.[14]
