Abstract
Via Oswalt’s system of classification, I compare the tool-kits of wild and captive capuchins with those of Tanzanian chimpanzees and Tasmanian aborigines. The results indicate that capuchins have tool-kits that are smaller, and have lower ratios of artifacts to naturefacts, than those of Tanzanian chimpanzees and Tasmanian aborigines. Accordingly, Oswalt’s system can be used productively to assess the relative technological skills of monkeys versus those of apes and humans.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson, J. R. (1990). Use of objects as hammers to open nuts by capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella).Folia Primatol. 54: 138–145.
Beck, B. B. (1980).Animal Tool Behavior: The Use and Manufacture of Tools by Animals. Garland Press, New York.
Boinski, S. (1988). Use of a club by a white-faced capuchin (Cebus capucinus) to attack a venomous snake (Bothrops asper).Am. J. Primatol. 14: 177–179.
Boulenger, E. (1936).Apes and Monkeys, Harrap, London.
Chevalier-Skolnikoff, S. (1989). Spontaneous tool use and sensorimotor intelligence inCebus compared with other monkeys and apes.Behav. Brain Sci. 12: 561–627.
Chevalier-Skolnikoff, S. (1990). Tool use by wild Cebus monkeys at Santa Rosa National Park, Costa Rica.Primates 31: 375–383.
Cooper, L., and Harlow, H. (1961). Note on a Cebus monkey’s use of a stick as a weapon.Psychol. Report 8: 418.
Fernandes, M. E. B. (1991). Tool use and predation of oysters (Crassostrea rhizophorae) by the tufted capuchin,Cebus apella, in brackish water mangrove swamp.Primates 32: 529–531.
Fragaszy, D. M., and Adams-Curtis, L. E. (1991). Generative aspects of manipulation in tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella).J. Comp. Psychol. 105: 387–397.
Kohler, W. (1925).The Mentality of Apes, Humanities Press, New York.
McGrew, W. C. (1987). Tools to get food: The subsistants of Tasmanian aborigines and Tanzanian chimpanzees compared.J. Anthropol. Res. 43: 247–258.
McGrew, W. C. (1992).Chimpanzee Material Culture: Implications for Human Evolution, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Oswalt, W. H. (1973).Habitat and Technology: The Evolution of Hunting, Holt Rinehart and Winston, New York.
Oswalt, W. H. (1976).An Anthropological Analysis of Food-Getting Technology, John Wiley, New York.
Toth, N., Schick, K. D., Savage-Rumbaugh, E. S., Sevcik, R. A., and Rumbaugh, D. M. (1993). Pan the tool-maker: Investigations into the stone tool-making and tool-using capabilities of a bonobo (Pan paniscus).J. Archaeol. Sci. 20: 81–91.
Westergaard, G. C. (1993). Development of combinatorial manipulation in infant baboons (Papio cynocephalus anubis).J. Comp. Psychol. 107: 34–38.
Westergaard, G. C., and Fragaszy, D. M. (1987). The manufacture and use of tools by capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella).J. Comp. Psychol. 101: 159–168.
Westergaard, G. C., and Suomi, S. J. (1993a). Hand preference in capuchin monkeys varies with age.Primates 34: 295–299.
Westergaard, G. C., and Suomi, S. J. (1993b). Hand preference in the use of nut-cracking tools by tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella).Folia Primatol. 61: 38–42.
Westergaard, G. C., and Suomi, S. J. (1994a). The use of probing tools by capuchin monkeys: Evidence for increased right-hand preference with age.Int. J. Primatol. 15: 521–529.
Westergaard, G. C., and Suomi, S. J. (1994b). A simple stone-tool technology in monkeys.J. Hum. Evol. (in press).
Williams, J. B. (1984a).Tool-Use by Nonhuman Primates: A Bibliography, 1940–1974, Primate Information Center, Seattle, WA.
Williams, J. B. (1984b).Tool-Use by Nonhuman Primates: A Bibliography, 1975–1983, Primate Information Center, Seattle, WA.
Williams, J. B. (1992).Tool-Use by Nonhuman Primates: A Bibliography, 1983–1992, Primate Information Center, Seattle, WA.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Westergaard, G.C. The subsistence technology of capuchins. Int J Primatol 15, 899–906 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02736075
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02736075
