Taxonomy:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorrhini
Infraorder: Simiiformes
Parvorder: Platyrrhini
Family: Cebidae
Subfamily: Cebinae
Genus: Cebus
Species: C. kaapori
Other names: Untufted Capuchin.
For a long time the taxonomy of the Ka'apor Capuchin monkey was (and sometimes still is) strongly argued (Alfaro, Silva & Rylands, 2012). When it was first discovered by Ferrari and Queiroz in 1992 some believed that Cebus kaapori should be classed as a sub species of Cebus olivaceous. However nowadays it is considered by many to be its own individual species. It is also the only species of capuchin with no sub species (Boubli, Rylands, Farias, Alfaro & Alfaro, 2012).The Ka’apor capuchin is a member of the Cebidae family, one of five families that fall under the Platyrrhini Parvorder, classing this species as one of the New World Monkeys.
Morphology:
Compared to most other primate species, the Ka’apor capuchin is relatively small, growing no larger than roughly 60cm in height and 45cm in length. The species has relatively long limbs compared to its trunk size allowing efficient quadrupedal movement through the tree canopy which is a large benefit due to the species being predominately arboreal, they have also been noted to be bipedal however this is quite a rare occurrence. They possess a semi-prehensile tail that is mainly used during feeding unlike the other New World Monkeys possess a fully prehensile tail that is used throughout most aspects of their lives i.e. provide support and balance (a unique morphological trait belonging to the New World Monkeys) (Fernandez-Duque, Fiore & Huck, 2012) Like the other members of the genus, the kaapori capuchin exhibits sexual dimorphism with an average male adult body mass of anywhere between 3.0 to 3.7 kilograms and with an average female adult body mass falling somewhere between 2.3-2.5 kilograms (Fernandez-Duque, Fiore & Huck, 2012). C. kaapori Queiroz (1992) is one of four species that are known as the untufted, or gracile, capuchins as they lack a small tuft of hair located on the head which the majority of capuchin species posses. The main body of the species is a greyish - brown colour with shoulders that appear to be more silver/grey in colour along with their mantle and tail tip. Both the hands and feet are very dark brown, almost black. The face and ears of the kaapori capuchin are left naked, revealing their pink flesh (Queiroz, 1992). The crown of the species is black and extends towards the brow. One of the reasons people wanted to group this species with C. olivaceous is due to the similarities in colour pattern.
Range:
The kaapori capuchin monkey is only found in the country of Brazil. Out of all primates found in Amazonia C. kaapori has the smallest and most restricted geographical range, being confined to just two of Brazil’s states, Maranhão and Pará. In these two states its range extends from the Rio Tocantins located to the west and south of Pará to the right bank of the Rio Grajaú in Maranhão (Lopes & Ferrari, 1996. Arvalho, Pinto & Galetti, 1999. Ferrari & Souza, 1994. Ferrari & Queiroz, 1994).
Habitat:
The Ka'apor capuchin monkey's preferred habitat is either undisturbed or only slightly disturbed dense lowland Amazonian forests that occur at altitudes of 200m or lower (Queiroz, 1992). They have also been reported to inhabit the edge of the Zona dos Cocais, a transitional interspace that exists between the Amazon rainforest and savannah, the kaapori are drawn to this area so they may exploit their ability to feed on the palm fruit that grows there (Masterson, 1995; Oliveira, Alfaro & Veiga, 2014).
Ecology:
The Ka'apor capuchin monkey lives in an area that is densely inhabited by humans which results in high levels of habitat degrading activities to occur e.g. deforestation, the Ka'apor capuchin is considered to be the most endangered primate currently living in the Brazilian Amazon (Lopes & Ferrari, 1995; Ferrari & Queiroz, 1994. Masterson, 1995).
Like the majority of the Capuchin family, the Ka'apor Capuchins are omnivorous meaning they comprise their diet with both plants and small animals such as small invertebrates e.g. insects although they have also been spotted feeding on small rodents however this is rather uncommon and only comprises a small part of their diet, they do show a preference to fruits, contributing to 74.1% of their total diet, making them predominantly frugivorous (Fragaszy, Visalberghi, Fedigan & Rylands, 2004; Oliveira et al, 2014).
Behaviour:
Capuchins are usually found living in multi female-multi male social groups (Fernandez-Duque, Fiore & Huck, 2012) which in the Ka’apor capuchin range in sizes of 1-7, the smallest of all the capuchins. Troops of Ka’apor capuchins are headed by a single alpha male and a single alpha female and are dominant over all the other individuals on the group and will dictate the troop’s movement and activity patterns. These troops also practise a matrilineal dominance hierarchy, meaning that the daughter offspring of the alpha female will go on to be dominant over any of the other females, male off spring hold less high standing as it is the lower ranking mature males that will disperse to other troops. The Ka’apor capuchins exhibit a polygamous mating system in which one male, the alpha, will mate exclusively with most of the females in the troop, although it has been documented that sometimes a lesser ranking male will mate with one of the females. After 160-180 days of gestation Cebus kaapori will give birth to a single offspring. When it comes to parental care there is a surprising involvement of non-mother care from various members of the group (Fernandez-Duque, Fiore & Huck, 2012).
Cebus kaapori are able to communicate with one another vocally and visually. For vocal communication there are five call types a capuchin monkey will use, these include chirps, squawks, whistles, thrills and finally scream. There are two main visual cues Ka’apor monkeys use. The first being to cover their teeth using their lips and to open their eyes wide, this is done when in coalitions mobbing a predator. The second facial expression is to bare their teeth, this can be used in combination with vocal communications when fleeing to warn others of a potential threat. This second expression is also used to show friendliness and/or submission.
Conservation:
The Ka’apor capuchin monkey is currently listed as critically endangered on the ICUN Red List and is also noted that the population trend of Cebus kaapori is in decline. Not only is it critically endangered it is considered by many to be the most endangered mammal in the entire Brazilian amazon.
There are a number of direct threats that contribute to the endangerment of the Ka’apor capuchin, most notably of which being deforestation that leads to habitat loss. The Ka’apor capuchin inhabits the most densely populated area of humans which results in a high amount of human activity that has a strong influence on the Ka’apor capuchin’s habitat. The activities that contribute to the deforestation of the Ka’apor’s habitat include the expansion of farmland, cattle ranches and plantations. Another contributing factor to deforestation is logging and mining, a lot of which is done illegally, in order to retrieve construction materials and raw sources of power. Large amounts of forest are also cut down in order to make room for hydroelectric dams, in 1984 the Tucuruí dam was constructed, the largest in Brazil, in the Tocantins River, the construction of this dam lead to the flooding of an area roughly 2,246 km2 in size (Oliveira, Alfaro & Veiga, 2014). Second to deforestation, the hunting of primates to drive the illegal trade of bush meat is a very strong influence on the current decline of Ka’apor capuchins. A final direct threat to the conservation of Ka’apor capuchins is people keeping of them as pets, many primates in the area are captured to sell or to keep as pets, especially with capuchin monkeys high level of intelligence makes them a highly sought out pet, the Ka’apor capuchin included. As the Ka’apor capuchin already occurs rarely in the wild, taking individuals out of the wild population can have a large knock on effect resulting in a further decline.
In order to attempt to save the Ka’apor capuchin from going extinct in the wild changes need to be implemented soon, changes such as an increase in the enforcement of hunting and deforestation laws. Not only do the laws need to be enforced more, but greater penalisations should be put into place to act as a stronger deterrent to those individuals looking to breaking the laws. It is likely that the local human populations in Maranhão and Pará are simply ignorant to the conservation threats they pose to the Ka’apor capuchin. To combat this, conservation education needs to be emphasised in the local communities.
Reference List:
1. De Oliveira, S. G., Lynch Alfaro, J. W. & Veiga, L. M. (2014). Activity budget, diet, and habitat use in the critically endangered Ka'apor capuchin monkey (Cebus kaapori) in Pará State, Brazil: A preliminary comparison to other capuchin monkeys. Am. J. Primatol., 76: 919-931. doi: 10.1002/ajp.22277
2. BOUBLI, J. P., RYLANDS, A. B., FARIAS, I. P., ALFARO, M. E. & ALFARO, J. L. (2012). Cebus Phylogenetic Relationships: A Preliminary Reassessment of the Diversity of the Untufted Capuchin Monkeys. Am. J. Primatol., 74: 381-393. doi: 10.1002/ajp.21998
3. ALFARO, J. W. L., SILVA, J. D. S. E. & RYLANDS, A. B. (2012). How Different Are Robust and Gracile Capuchin Monkeys? An Argument for the Use of Sapajus and Cebus. Am. J. Primatol., 74: 273-286. doi: 10.1002/ajp.22007
4. Lopes, M. & Ferrari, S. (1996). Preliminary observations on the Ka'apor capuchin Cebus kaapori Queiroz 1992 from eastern Brazilian Amazonia. Biological Conservation, 76, 321-324. doi:10.1016/0006-3207(95)00095-X
5. Fragaszy, D.M., Visalberghi, E., Fedigan, L. & Rylands, A.B. (2004). Taxonomy, distribution and conservation: Where and what are they, and how did they get there? In: Fragaszy, D., Fedigan, L. & Visalberghi (Eds.). The complete capuchin: the biology of the genus Cebus (pp. 13-27). Cambridge, UK.
6. Arvalho, O. Jr., de Pinto, A.C.B. & Galetti, M. (1999). New observations on Cebus kaapori Queiroz, 1992, in eastern Brazilian Amazonia. Neotropical Primates, 7(2), 41–43.
7. Masterson, T.J. (1995). Morphological relationships between the Ka'apor capuchin (Cebus kaapori Queiroz 1992) and other male Cebus crania: a preliminary report. Neotropical Primates, 3(4), 165-171.
8. Kierulff, M.C.M. & de Oliveira, M.M. 2008. Cebus kaapori. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. . Last accessed on 24 February 2015
9. Ferrari, S. F. and de Souza Jr., A. P. (1994). More untufted capuchins in southeastern Amazonia?. Neotropical Primates, 2(1), 9-10.
10. Ferrari, S. F. and Queiroz, H. L. (1994). Two new Brazilian primates discovered, endangered. Oryx, 28(1), 31-36.
11. QUEIROZ, H. L. (1992). A new species of capuchin monkey, genus Cebus Erxleben, 1777 (Cebidae: Primates) from Eastern Brazilian Amazonia. Goeldiana Zoologia, 15, 1-13.
12. Fernandez-Duque, E., Fiore, D.A. & Huck, M. (2012). The Behaviour, Ecology and Social Evolution of New World Monkeys. In J. Mitani, J. Call, P. Kappeler, R. Palombit & J. Silk (Eds.), The Evolution of Primate Societies (pp. 43-64). United States of America: The University of Chicago Press.
