The Extractive Foraging Hypothesis

ABSTRACTHabitual reliance on tool use is a marked behavioral difference between wild robust (genus Sapajus) and gracile (genus Cebus) capuchin monkeys. Despite being well studied and having a rich repertoire of social and extractive foraging traditions, Cebus sp have rarely been observed engaging in tool use and have never been reported to use stone tools. In contrast, habitual tool use and stone-tool use by Sapajus is widespread. We discuss factors which might explain these differences in patterns of tool use between Cebus and Sapajus. We then report the first case of habitual stone-tool use in a gracile capuchin: a population of white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus imitator) in Coiba National Park, Panama who habitually rely on hammerstone and anvil tool use to access structurally protected food items in coastal areas including Terminalia catappa seeds, hermit crabs, marine snails, terrestrial crabs, and other items. This behavior has persisted on one island in Coiba National Park since at least 2004. From one year of camera trapping, we found that stone tool use is strongly male-biased. Of the 205 unique camera-trap-days where tool use was recorded, adult females were never observed to use stone-tools, although they were frequently recorded at the sites and engaged in scrounging behavior. Stone-tool use occurs year-round in this population, and over half of all identifiable individuals were observed participating. At the most active tool use site, 83.2% of days where capuchins were sighted corresponded with tool use. Capuchins inhabiting the Coiba archipelago are highly terrestrial, under decreased predation pressure and potentially experience resource limitation compared to mainland populations– three conditions considered important for the evolution of stone tool use. White-faced capuchin tool use in Coiba National Park thus offers unique opportunities to explore the ecological drivers and evolutionary underpinnings of stone tool use in a comparative within- and between-species context.

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A Novel Method for Assessing Enamel Thickness Distribution in the Anterior Dentition as a Signal for Gouging and Other Extractive Foraging Behaviors in Gummivorous Mammals

Folia Primatologica ◽

10.1159/000502819 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 91 (4) ◽

pp. 365-384

Author(s):

Keegan R. Selig ◽

Sergi López-Torres ◽

Adam Hartstone-Rose ◽

Leanne T. Nash ◽

Anne M. Burrows ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Thickness Distribution ◽

Extractive Foraging ◽

Enamel Thickness ◽

Novel Method

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Sex Bias and Social Influences on Savanna Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) Nest Building Behavior

International Journal of Primatology ◽

10.1007/s10764-020-00157-4 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 41 (6) ◽

pp. 849-869 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Fiona A. Stewart ◽

Jill D. Pruetz

Keyword(s):

Sex Differences ◽

Pan Troglodytes ◽

Tool Use ◽

Great Apes ◽

Nest Building ◽

Pan Troglodytes Verus ◽

Adult Males ◽

Extractive Foraging ◽

Individual Level ◽

Adult Females

AbstractMany primates show sex differences in behavior, particularly social behavior, but also tool use for extractive foraging. All great apes learn to build a supportive structure for sleep. Whether sex differences exist in building, as in extractive foraging, is unknown, and little is known about how building skills develop and vary between individuals in the wild. We therefore aimed to describe the nesting behavior of savanna chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in Fongoli, Senegal to provide comparative data and to investigate possible sex or age differences in nest building behaviors and nest characteristics. We followed chimpanzee groups to their night nesting sites to record group (55 nights) and individual level data (17 individuals) on nest building initiation and duration (57 nests) during the dry season between October 2007 and March 2008. We returned the following morning to record nest and tree characteristics (71 nests built by 25 individuals). Fongoli chimpanzees nested later than reported for other great apes, but no sex differences in initiating building emerged. Observations were limited but suggest adult females and immature males to nest higher, in larger trees than adult males, and adult females to take longer to build than either adult or immature males. Smaller females and immature males may avoid predation or access thinner, malleable branches, by nesting higher than adult males. These differences suggest that sex differences described for chimpanzee tool use may extend to nest building, with females investing more time and effort in constructing a safe, warm structure for sleep than males do.

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

Royal Society Open Science ◽

10.1098/rsos.181002 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 5 (8) ◽

pp. 181002 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Brendan J. Barrett ◽

Claudio M. Monteza-Moreno ◽

Tamara Dogandžić ◽

Nicolas Zwyns ◽

Alicia Ibáñez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tool Use ◽

National Park ◽

Resource Limitation ◽

Stone Tools ◽

Cebus Capucinus ◽

Hermit Crabs ◽

Stone Tool ◽

Extractive Foraging ◽

Marine Snails ◽

First Case

Habitual reliance on tool use is a marked behavioural difference between wild robust (genus Sapajus ) and gracile (genus Cebus ) capuchin monkeys. Despite being well studied and having a rich repertoire of social and extractive foraging traditions, Cebus sp. rarely use tools and have never been observed using stone tools. By contrast, habitual tool use by Sapajus is widespread. We review theory and discuss factors which might explain these differences in patterns of tool use between Cebus and Sapajus . We then report the first case of habitual stone tool use in a gracile capuchin: a population of white-faced capuchins ( Cebus capucinus imitator ) in Coiba National Park, Panama who habitually rely on hammerstone and anvil tool use to access structurally protected food items in coastal areas including Terminalia catappa seeds, hermit crabs, marine snails, terrestrial crabs and other items. This behaviour has persisted on one island in Coiba National Park since at least 2004. From 1 year of camera trapping, we found that stone tool use is strongly male-biased. Of the 205 camera trap days where tool use was recorded, adult females were never observed to use stone tools, although they were frequently recorded at the sites and engaged in scrounging behaviour. Stone tool use occurs year-round in this population; over half of all identifiable individuals were observed participating. At the most active tool use site, 83.2% of days where capuchins were sighted corresponded with tool use. Capuchins inhabiting the Coiba archipelago are highly terrestrial, under decreased predation pressure and potentially experience resource limitation compared to mainland populations—three conditions considered important for the evolution of stone tool use. White-faced capuchin tool use in Coiba National Park thus offers unique opportunities to explore the ecological drivers and evolutionary underpinnings of stone tool use in a comparative within- and between-species context.

Download Full-text