Habitual stone-tool-aided extractive foraging in white-faced capuchins, Cebus capucinus

Researchers document the first instance of habitual stone-tool use in white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus imitator) within Coiba National Park, Panama. Unlike other gracile capuchin species, this population relies on hammerstone and anvil techniques to access structurally protected food items such as Terminalia catappa seeds, hermit crabs, marine snails, and terrestrial crabs—a behavior absent in related species but prevalent in robust capuchins (Sapajus). Camera trapping over a year revealed strong male-biased tool use; adult females, though present at foraging sites, were never observed using tools. The behavior persists year-round across multiple islands, with over half of identifiable individuals participating. The study suggests that high terrestrialism, reduced predation pressure, and potential resource limitation in the Coiba archipelago may drive this evolutionary adaptation, offering a unique model to investigate ecological and evolutionary factors shaping tool use.

Barrett, B. J., Monteza-Moreno, C. M., Dogandžić, T., Zwyns, N., Ibáñez, A., & Crofoot, M. C. (2018). Habitual stone-tool-aided extractive foraging in white-faced capuchins, Cebus capucinus. Royal Society Open Science, 5(8), 181002. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.181002