Skip to main content
Log in

The stone tools of capuchins (Cebus apella)

  • Published:
International Journal of Primatology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We examined the production of stone took by capuchins (Cebus apella). Eleven subjects used five reduction techniques to produce 346 stone tools (48 cores and 298 flakes). They produced a sharp edge on 83% of the cores and largest flakes. Three monkeys later used a sample of these objects as cutting tools. These results demonstrate that monkeys produce lithic tools analogous to those produced by Oldowan hominids.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Beck, B. B. (1980).Animal Tool Behavior: The Use and Manufacture of Tools by Animals, Garland STPM Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boesch, G, and Boesch, H. (1990). Tool use and tool making in wild chimpanzees.Folia Primatol. 54: 86–99.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calvin, W. (1993). The unitary hypothesis: A common neural circuitry for novel manipulations, language, plan-ahead, and throwing? In Gibson, K. R., and Ingold, T. (eds.),Tools, Language, and Cognition in Human Evolution, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 230–250.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chevalier-Skolnikoff, S. (1990). Tool use by wildCebus monkeys at Santa Rosa National Park, Costa Rica.Primates 31: 375–383.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davidson, I. (1991). The archaeology of language origins—A review.Antiquity 65: 39–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fernandes, M. E. B. (1991). Tool use and predation of oysters(Crassostrea rhizophorae) by the tufted capuchin,Cebus apella apella, in brackish water mangrove swamp.Primates 32: 529–531.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fragaszy, D. M. (1986). Time budgets and foraging behavior in wedgecapped capuchins(Cebus olivaceous): Age and sex differences. In King, F., and Taub, D. (eds.),Current Perspectives in Primate Social Dynamics, Van Nostrand, New York, pp. 159–174.

    Google Scholar 

  • Isaac, G. L. (1982). The earliest archaeological traces. In Clark, J. D. (ed.),The Cambridge History of Africa, Vol. 1. From the Earliest Times to c. 500 B.C., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Izawa, K. (1979). Foods and feeding behavior of wild black-capped capuchins(Cebus apella).Primates 20: 57–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janson, C. H. (1985). Aggressive competition and individual food consumption in wild brown capuchin monkeys(Cebus apella).Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol 18: 125–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leakey, M. D. (1971).Olduvai Gorge, Vol. 3. Excavations in Beds I and II, Cambridge University Press, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGrew, W. C. (1992).Chimpanzee Material Culture. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGrew, W. C. (1993). The intelligent use of tools: Twenty propositions. In Gibson, K. R., and Ingold, T. (eds.),Tools, Language, and Cognition in Human Evolution, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 151–170.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parker, S. T., and Gibson, K. R. (1977). Object manipulation, tool use and sensorimotor intelligence as feeding adaptations inCebus monkeys and great apes.J. Hum. Evol. 6: 623–641.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pellant, C. (1992).Rocks and Minerals, Dorling Kindersley, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Potts, R. (1988).Early Hominid Activities at Olduvai, Aldine de Gruyter, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schick, K. D., and Toth, N. (1993).Making Silent Stones Speak Human Evolution and the Dawn of Technology, Simon & Schuster, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Toth, N. (1985). The Oldowan reassessed: A close look at early stone artifacts.J. Archaeol. Sci. 12: 101–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Visalberghi, E. (1990). Tool use inCebus. Folia Primatol. 54: 146–154.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Westergaard, G. C. (1994). The subsistence technology of capuchins.Int. J. Primatol. 15: 899–906.

    Google Scholar 

  • Westergaard, G. G., and Fragaszy, D. M. (1987). The manufacture and use of tools by capuchin monkeys(Cebus apella).J. Comp. Psychol. 101: 159–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westergaard, G. C., and Suomi, S. J. (1994a). The use and modification of bone tools by capuchin monkeys.Curr. Anthropol. 35: 75–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westergaard, G. C., and Suomi, S. J. (1994b). A simple stone-tool technology in monkeys.J. Hum. Evol 27: 399–404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westergaard, G. C., and Suomi, S. J. (1994c). Aimed throwing of stones by tufted capuchin monkeys(Cebus apella).Hum. Evol. 9: 323–329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright, R. V. (1972). Imitative learning of a flaked tool technology: The case of an orangutan.Mankind 8: 296–306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wynn, T., and McGrew, W. C. (1989). An ape's view of the Oldowan.Man 24: 383–398.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Westergaard, G.C., Suomi1, S.J. The stone tools of capuchins (Cebus apella). International Journal of Primatology 16, 1017–1024 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02696114

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02696114

Key Words

Navigation