Journal
PRIMATES
Volume 58, Issue 2, Pages 279-283Publisher
SPRINGER JAPAN KK
DOI: 10.1007/s10329-017-0603-1
Keywords
Behavior; Nest predation; Opportunistic tool use; Primate culture; Sapajus
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Funding
- Instituto de Desenvolvimento Sustentavel Mamiraua (IDSM-OS/MCTI)
- IDSM AQUAVERT project
- Programa Petrobras Ambiental
- Infrastructure and Logistics Team at Mamiraua Institute
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Descriptions of new tool-use events are important for understanding how ecological context may drive the evolution of tool use among primate traditions. Here, we report a possible case of the first record of tool use by wild Amazonian capuchin monkeys (Sapajus macrocephalus). The record was made by a camera trap, while we were monitoring caiman nest predation at Mamiraua Reserve in Central Amazonia. An adult individual was registered in a bipedal posture, apparently using a branch as a shovel to dig eggs out of a nest. Caiman eggs are frequently depredated by opportunistic animals, such as the capuchin monkeys. As the Mamiraua 'Reserve is covered by a high-productivity forest, and caiman eggs are a high-quality food resource seasonally available on the ground, we believe that tool use by capuchins is more likely to be opportunity driven, rather than necessity driven, in our study site.
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