Panama Capuchin Monkey
| Panama Capuchin Monkey | ||||||||||||
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Panama Capuchin Monkey ( Cebus imitator ) in Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica. |
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| Cebus imitator | ||||||||||||
| Thomas , 1903 |
The Panama capuchin monkey ( Cebus imitator ) is a primate species from the genus of the capuchin monkey within the New World monkey . It occurs in western Panama , Costa Rica and on the Caribbean side of Nicaragua and Honduras .
features
Panama capuchin monkeys reach head-trunk lengths of 34 to 42 cm, plus a 43 to 46 cm long tail. Males, weighing 3.7 to 3.9 kg, are more than a kilogram heavier than the females, who reach 2.6 to 2.7 kg. Outwardly, the monkeys are almost indistinguishable from the white-shouldered capuchin ( Cebus capucinus ). However, females have slightly brownish tinted hair on the forehead that is about 4 cm long, which contrasts with the otherwise white face.
Way of life
The animals live in rain , dry and mountain forests from sea level to altitudes of 1500 meters and also go into mangroves . In large parts of the distribution area there are distinct seasons with a rainy and a dry season . They are active for most of the day and usually wake up shortly before sunrise. In the seasonal wetlands of Barro Colorado Island , a group of Panama capuchin monkeys spent 28% of the day foraging and eating, 47% moving, and 11% doing comfort or social hygiene , playing or other activities. They rested especially during lunchtime; this accounted for 14% of the daily activity. In the dry forest of the Costa Rican Santa Rosa National Park , much more time has to be spent looking for food. This accounted for 47% of the day's activity, 37% was used for movement and 21% for rest. Very few social interactions were observed. There are known cases of tool use in Panama capuchin monkeys : one of these animals used a branch to scare away a terciopelo lance viper ( Bothrops asper ). The average group size is 16 animals, whereby the females are usually in the majority. A group has a territory with a core and a peripheral zone. The edge zones can overlap with those of other groups of capuchin monkeys, the core zone always has one group to itself. When two groups meet, threats arise between the male animals. Within a group, females and males form independent, hierarchical structures. The alpha female is only subordinate to the alpha male and is hierarchically above the other males. When fighting with the alpha male, it can form alliances with other females so that the females can get together e.g. B. can prevail in a dispute over food against the alpha male.
Females usually stay in the group in which they were born, while males change groups as they reach sexual maturity. In most cases, several males change groups at the same time and many change groups more than once in their life. If the changing males accept the hierarchy among the males of the new group and subordinate themselves to the alpha male, the group change takes place peacefully; if they try to displace the alpha male, there is strong aggression and fighting. If the group change is not peaceful, over 80% of the young animals less than a year old die within one year of the group change. Group changes take place mainly during the dry season. Mixed groups of squirrel monkeys , as are common in South America, are rare in the Panama capuchin monkey.
Predators that hunt the Panama capuchin monkey include puma , jaguar , jaguarundi , ocelot , long-tailed cat , tayra , coyote , spectacled caiman , the emperor boa ( Boa imperator ) and various birds of prey, including the black buzzard ( Buteogallus urubitinga ). Captive Panama capuchin monkeys lived up to 55 years of age. Panama capuchin monkeys give different alarm calls depending on whether the danger comes from the air or from the ground. In groups and when the balance of power allows it, they actively defend themselves against terrestrial predators.
nutrition
Panama capuchin monkeys feed on fruits, flowers, leaves, fresh shoots, tree pulp, nectar, insects, crabs, snails, mussels, frogs, lizards ( anoles and small black iguanas ), eggs, nestlings and young birds that have just fledged, squirrels , young white proboscis Coatis and tree rats . Several monkeys cooperate to capture young white-nosed coatis. Some distract the parent animals while others grab the young. According to studies in Costa Rica, squirrels represent around 25% of the monkeys' prey, another 25% are young white-nosed coatis and around 40% are eggs and juvenile birds. Birds whose nests are looted are the squid , night swallows , cockles , woodpeckers , herons , ducks , wrens and the white-throated magpie jays ( Calocitta formosa ). Insect larvae are very popular and to remove spines or poisonous hairs, they are sometimes even wrapped in a leaf and rolled on a branch. Thirst is often quenched by small water deposits in knotholes. In the dry season, the monkeys' freedom of movement can be restricted by the available water sources. If two groups use the same water source this can lead to tense encounters.
Reproduction
Female Panama capuchin monkeys usually have their first young at the age of seven. Males become sexually mature at ten years of age. Reproduction occurs all year round, but most young are born during the dry season. All males can reproduce in a group, but the alpha male is the father of 63 to 84% of the young. Inferior males often mate with not yet sexually mature females.
Systematics
The Panama capuchin monkey was first described in 1903 by the British zoologist Oldfield Thomas . The terra typica is located at an altitude of 1350 meters in the Boquete district in the Chiriquí province in western Panama . In many later publications the species was synonymous with the South American white-shouldered capuchin ( Cebus capucinus ) . In 1949 the mammaloge Philip Hershkovitz described a capuchin monkey from the Honduran-Nicaraguan border under the scientific name Cebus limitaneus and noted that it was smaller than Cebus imitator and had a smaller skull. In a phylogenetic study based on molecular biological characteristics in 2012, however , Jean P. Boubli and colleagues were unable to find any differences in the mitochondrial DNA of Cebus limitaneus and that of the other Central American capuchin monkeys and therefore made Cebus limitaneus a junior synonym of Cebus imitator . The same study found that the Central American capuchin monkeys were isolated from the South American white-shouldered capuchin monkeys 1.7 million years ago and that the genetic distance is correspondingly large. Cebus imitator therefore became an independent species again, which was adopted in the primate volume of the standard work Handbook of the Mammals of the World .
Danger
The Panama capuchin monkey is relatively common and is considered to be harmless. It occurs in numerous national parks and protected areas, in Costa Rica, among others, in Braulio Carrillo , Cerro Chirripó , Corcovado , Guanacaste , Manuel Antonio , Poás , Rincón de la Vieja and Tortuguero , in Panama in the national parks Cerro Hoya , Coiba and Soberanía and in Honduras in the national parks Cusuco , Jeannette Kawas and Pico Bonito .
literature
- Anthony B. Rylands, Russell A. Mittermeier, Bruna M. Bezerra, Fernanda P. Paim & Helder L. Queiroz: Family Cebidae (Squirrel Monkeys and Capuchins). Pages 412-413, in Russell A. Mittermeier , Anthony B. Rylands & Don E. Wilson : Handbook of the Mammals of the World - Volume 3: Primates. Lynx Edicions, 2013 ISBN 978-8496553897 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ S. Boinski: Use of a club by a wild white-faced capuchin ( Cebus capucinus ) to attack a venomous snake ( Bothrops asper ). In: American Journal of Primatology. 14, No. 2, 1987, pp. 177-179 ( doi : 10.1002 / ajp.1350140208 ).
- ^ Lisa M. Rose: Vertebrate Predation and Food-Sharing in Cebus and Pan. International Journal of Primatology 18 (5), October 1997; Pp. 727-765. doi: 10.1023 / A: 1026343812980 .
- ↑ Jean P. Boubli, Anthony B. Rylands, Izeni P. Farias, Michael E. Alfaro, Jessica Lynch Alfaro:Cebus Phylogenetic Relationships: A Preliminary Reassessment of the Diversity of the Untufted Capuchin Monkeys American Journal of Primatology 00: 1–13 (2012), doi: 10.1002 / ajp.21998 .