Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Cebus ca­puci­nus is na­tive to Cen­tral Amer­ica in the Neotrop­i­cal Re­gion. They are found in Hon­duras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and along the coast of Co­lum­bia and Ecuador. Some in­di­vid­u­als have been re­ported as far south as Ar­gentina. This species has one of the widest ranges of all New World mon­keys. (Estrada, et al., 2006; Grz­imek and Gold, 2004; Kinzey, 1997; Miller, 2002; Moyni­han, 1976; Perry, 2003; Richard, 1985; Smuts, et al., 1987; Wolfheim, 1983)

• Biogeographic Regions
• neotropical
  • native

Habi­tat

White-faced ca­puchins are highly adapt­able and oc­cupy a wide range of habi­tats. They live in a va­ri­ety of wet, dry, pri­mary, and sec­ondary forests, but pre­fer trop­i­cal ever­greens and dry de­cid­u­ous forests. White-faced ca­puchins have a pref­er­ence for close-canopied forests up to as high as 2100 m but mainly oc­cupy the mid­dle strata around 1100 m. They are com­mon in areas high in hu­mid­ity and well-drained low­lands. Oc­ca­sion­ally, they have been found in vol­canic foothills and coastal plains. (Eisen­berg, 1989; Estrada, et al., 2006; Grz­imek and Gold, 2004; Kinzey, 1997; Wolfheim, 1983)

• Habitat Regions
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• forest
• rainforest

• Other Habitat Features
• riparian

• Range elevation

  0 to 2100 m

  0.00 to 6889.76 ft

• Average elevation

  1100 m

  3608.92 ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

White-faced ca­puchins have dis­tinc­tive mark­ings that dis­tin­guish them from other ca­puchin mon­keys. Their dor­sum and hindquar­ters are solid black, while the upper chest, fore­arms, and the fur around the face are white. They have tan-col­ored fa­cial skin and a black cap on their heads. White-faced ca­puchins have pre­hen­sile tails, used for grasp­ing and car­ry­ing food and for added pos­tural sup­port. They reach their full adult size by age 8. Males weigh be­tween 3 and 4 kg and fe­males weigh be­tween 2 and 3 kg. This is the great­est de­gree of sex­ual di­mor­phism among the ca­puchins. They are pri­mar­ily quadrupedal, but are also ex­cel­lent leapers and climbers. (Eisen­berg, 1989; Estrada, et al., 2006; Ger­ber and Rehg, 1999; Grz­imek and Gold, 2004; Kinzey, 1997; Moyni­han, 1976; Smuts, et al., 1987)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger

• Range mass

  2 to 4 kg

  4.41 to 8.81 lb

• Range length

  435 (high) mm

  17.13 (high) in

Re­pro­duc­tion

White-faced ca­puchins are polyg­a­mous, with males and fe­males hav­ing mul­ti­ple part­ners. There is a dom­i­nance hi­er­ar­chy among males, with alpha males hav­ing more mat­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties. How­ever, sub­or­di­nate males are also al­lowed to mate. Alpha males spend a large por­tion of their time en­gaged in de­ter­ring preda­tors and males from out­side groups. Pro­vid­ing his group with this pro­tec­tion gives the alpha male prece­dence over the other males in mat­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties. Males and fe­males en­gage in a set of spe­cific vo­cal­iza­tions, fa­cial ex­pres­sions, and pos­tures be­fore cop­u­la­tion. (Eisen­berg, 1989; Estrada, et al., 2006; Grz­imek and Gold, 2004; Kinzey, 1997; Smuts, et al., 1987)

• Mating System
• polygynandrous (promiscuous)

Fe­males give birth to a sin­gle off­spring at about 2 year in­ter­vals. Breed­ing is sea­sonal, with peak fe­male fer­til­ity from Jan­u­ary to April. Mat­ing oc­curs out­side of these months but rarely re­sults in con­cep­tions. Ges­ta­tion last for an av­er­age of 160 days. Adult fe­males be­come sex­u­ally ma­ture around age 4, but typ­i­cally don't give birth until age 7. Males be­come sex­u­ally ma­ture at 7 to 10 years old. (Eisen­berg, 1989; Estrada, et al., 2006; Kinzey, 1997; Smuts, et al., 1987)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
• viviparous

• Breeding interval

  White-faced capuchins breed year-round, though females only conceive once every 2 years, on average.

• Breeding season

  Peak breeding is between January and April.

• Range number of offspring

  1 (high)

• Average number of offspring

  1

• Range gestation period

  157 to 167 days

• Average gestation period

  160 days

• Range weaning age

  2 to 4 months

• Range time to independence

  4 to 8 years

• Average time to independence

  7 years

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  4 to 7 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  5 years

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  7 to 10 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  8 years

Pri­mary care for in­fants is pro­vided by the mother. Fe­males carry, pro­tect, and feed the young until they are able to take care of them­selves. Males do not help with care of in­fants, but may as­sist young in the so­cial hi­er­ar­chy once they are in­de­pen­dent. Alpha males help to pro­tect mem­bers of their group from in­trud­ers and preda­tors. (Eisen­berg, 1989; Estrada, et al., 2006; Kinzey, 1997)

• Parental Investment
• altricial
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• post-independence association with parents
• extended period of juvenile learning

Lifes­pan/Longevity

White-faced ca­puchin max­i­mum lifes­pan in cap­tiv­ity is 55 years. Wild lifes­pan may be less than half of that. Fac­tors such as pre­da­tion, dis­ease, and in­fec­tion from wounds sus­tained while fight­ing are all re­spon­si­ble for many deaths each year. Tree re­moval, log­ging, and clearcut­ting are in­di­rectly the lead­ing cause of white-face ca­puchin death by dras­ti­cally re­duc­ing suit­able habi­tats. (Eisen­berg, 1989; Estrada, et al., 2006; Grz­imek and Gold, 2004; Smuts, et al., 1987; Wolfheim, 1983)

• Range lifespan
  Status: captivity

  55 (high) years

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  30 (high) years

• Typical lifespan
  Status: captivity

  45 (high) years

Be­hav­ior

White-faced ca­puchins are highly so­cial and live in multi male - multi fe­male groups of 18 to 20. Fe­males are philopatric and stay with the group they are born into; males leave around age 4 to find a place in a new group. White-faced ca­puchins are di­ur­nal pri­mates and are very ac­tive dur­ing the day. They sleep at night. White-faced ca­puchins are play­ful and in­quis­i­tive, they play ex­ten­sively and are es­pe­cially in­ter­ested in tak­ing things apart. This be­hav­ior is more fre­quently ob­served in cap­tive set­tings but also oc­curs in the wild. White-faced ca­puchins are en­er­getic and ac­tive. So­cial play is com­mon among all group mem­bers, es­pe­cially ju­ve­niles, who spend con­sid­er­able amount of time play­ing and wrestling. Ju­ve­niles also rely heav­ily on so­cial learn­ing; ob­serv­ing adults to learn es­sen­tial be­hav­iors and skills. (Kinzey, 1997; Moyni­han, 1976; Perry, 2003; Richard, 1985; Smuts, et al., 1987)

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal
• scansorial
• diurnal
• motile
• sedentary
• social
• dominance hierarchies

• Average territory size

  0.8 km^2

Home Range

White-faced ca­puchins have a home range of ap­prox­i­mately 80 ha or 0.8 square km. They de­fend ter­ri­to­ries against other ca­puchins. When an in­truder is no­ticed in­di­vid­u­als will give an alarm call and the group will ei­ther flee or swarm the in­truder. In 100 sq. km of Santa Rosa Park there are be­tween 250 and 350 white-faced ca­puchins. (Kinzey, 1997; Moyni­han, 1976; Perry, 2003; Smuts, et al., 1987)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

White-faced ca­puchins are highly so­cial and com­mu­ni­ca­tion is very im­por­tant. In­di­vid­u­als spend a great deal of time in so­cial bond­ing and es­tab­lish­ing trust. And ex­am­ple is hand-sniff­ing, where one mon­key will stick his/her fin­gers in the other mon­key's nose and then other mon­key re­peats the ac­tiv­ity. This can last for sev­eral min­utes and is done with a trance-like ex­pres­sion. They may also suck on each other's fin­gers and tails for long pe­ri­ods of time. White-faced ca­puchins also play mouth games, where one in­di­vid­ual will in­sert some­thing into their mouth, whether it be the other mon­key's fin­ger, a patch of fur, or some inan­i­mate ob­ject. The ob­ject of this game is to pry the item out of the oth­ers mouth, and then the ob­ject is ei­ther placed back in the mouth to start a new game, or they take turns and switch roles. When preda­tors ap­proach, white-faced ca­puchins use trill vo­cal­iza­tions to co­or­di­nate move­ment in the group. A dif­fer­ent alarm call is used to alert oth­ers that a preda­tor or in­truder in nearby. (Kinzey, 1997; Perry, 2003; Radick, 2007)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• mimicry

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

White-faced ca­puchins eat a wide va­ri­ety of plants and an­i­mals. Their pri­mary diet is a va­ri­ety of fruits and nuts, but in­sects, other in­ver­te­brates, and small ver­te­brates are taken op­por­tunis­ti­cally. Ver­te­brates eaten in­clude squir­rels, tree rats, lizards, and birds. The diet varies re­gion­ally and sea­son­ally, but gen­er­ally con­sists of about 50 to 80% fruit, 20 to 30% an­i­mal ma­te­r­ial, and 10% other plant ma­te­r­ial. White-faced ca­puchins eat fre­quently and are ad­ven­tur­ous in their food choices. They will try al­most any­thing once and learn through trial and error about what is ed­i­ble or de­sir­able. One study showed that they ate 63 dif­fer­ent plant species from 34 fam­i­lies at Santa Rosa Park. They are ex­cel­lent for­agers from a very young age. As young as 1 year old they are able to seek out food al­most as well as adults, their only lim­i­ta­tions being size and strength. (Chap­man and Fedi­gan, 1990; Estrada, et al., 2006; Kinzey, 1997; Miller, 2002; Moyni­han, 1976)

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • frugivore
• omnivore

• Animal Foods
• birds
• mammals
• amphibians
• reptiles
• insects
• terrestrial non-insect arthropods

• Plant Foods
• seeds, grains, and nuts
• fruit
• flowers
• sap or other plant fluids

Pre­da­tion

The most com­mon preda­tors of white-face ca­puchins are snakes, es­pe­cially tree boas (Coral­lus) and lance­heads (Both­rops). Caimans, cats, such as jaguars and ocelots and large rap­tors, such as harpy ea­gles, also prey on these ca­puchins. White-face ca­puchins sound alarm calls when they spot a preda­tor. Liv­ing in tight-knit so­cial groups helps them to stay vig­i­lant against preda­tors. Groups threat­ened by a preda­tor will ei­ther flee or mob the preda­tor. (Miller, 2002; Perry, 2003)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic

• Known Predators

  • tree boas (Corallus)
  • lanceheads (Bothrops)
  • caimans (Caiman)
  • jaguars (Panthera onca)
  • ocelots (Leopardus pardalis)
  • harpy eagles (Harpia harpyja)

Ecosys­tem Roles

White-faced ca­puchins play an im­por­tant role in seed dis­per­sal, in­flu­enc­ing for­est re­gen­er­a­tion. Blood-born ne­ma­tode (round­worm) par­a­sites of this mon­key in­clude: Mi­cro­fi­laria pana­men­sis, Tetrapetalonema pana­men­sis, and Dipetalonema ob­tusa. (Chap­man and Fedi­gan, 1990; Em­mons, 1990; Esslinger, 1966; Esslinger, 1979; Grz­imek and Gold, 2004; Nowak, 1991; Sem­ple, et al., 2002)

• Ecosystem Impact
• disperses seeds

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

White-face ca­puchins are hunted for food and com­monly kept as pets and col­lected in zoos. Most ca­puchins in zoos are bred in cap­tiv­ity; few are from the wild. (Em­mons, 1990; Nowak, 1991)

• Positive Impacts
• pet trade
• food
• research and education

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

White-faced ca­puchins can be car­ri­ers of var­i­ous dis­eases while in the wild, and be­cause they are caught for the pet trade, these dis­ease can be trans­mit­ted to hu­mans. White-faced ca­puchins are known car­ri­ers of malaria and mi­cro­fi­laria. These dis­eases ap­pear to be more preva­lent in in­fants and ju­ve­niles, pos­si­bly be­cause of their weaker im­mune sys­tems. White-faced ca­puchins can also eat fruit crops. (Em­mons, 1990; Esslinger, 1966; Nowak, 1991; Porter, Jr., et al., 1966; Sem­ple, et al., 2002)

• Negative Impacts
• crop pest
• causes or carries domestic animal disease

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

White-face ca­puchins are wide­spread and their pop­u­la­tions are not cur­rently con­sid­ered threat­ened. The main pres­sures they face are habi­tat degra­da­tion, de­for­esta­tion, and being hunted for food. (Grz­imek and Gold, 2004)

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  Appendix II

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

John Long (au­thor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Karen Pow­ers (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity.

Ref­er­ences

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Eisen­berg, J. 1989. Mam­mals of the Neotrop­ics. Chicago: Uni­ver­sity of Chicago Press.

Em­mons, L. 1990. Neotrop­i­cal Rain­for­est Mam­mals. Chicago and Lon­don: The Uni­ver­sity of Chicago Press.

Esslinger, J. 1966. Dipetalonema ob­tusa (McCoy, 1936) comb. n. (Fi­lar­i­oidea: On­chocer­ci­dae) in Colom­bian Pri­mates, with a De­scrip­tion of the Adult. The Jour­nal of Par­a­sitol­ogy, 52/3: pp. 498-502.

Esslinger, J. 1979. Tetrapetalonema (T.) pana­men­sis (McCoy, 1936) comb. n. (Fi­lar­i­oidea: On­chocer­ci­dae) in Colom­bian Pri­mates, with a De­scrip­tion of the Adults. Jour­nal of Par­a­sitol­ogy, 65/6: 924-927.

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