Like humans, capuchin monkeys have a long juvenile period. To determine if this long period of juvenile development is a result of needing to learn how to acquire food, detailed data on food acquisition rates will be collected on three groups of wild capuchin monkeys at the Pacuare Nature Reserve in Costa Rica. Observed rates across age groups will be analyzed to determine whether older, nearly adult-sized juveniles still require time to learn how to obtain food at adult rates. Capuchin monkeys are also known for their reliance on difficult-to-obtain food items and for having proportionally large brains. To help understand how inexperienced juvenile capuchins acquire enough food for growth and the development of their large brains, this study will include measures of the nutrients young juveniles obtain from food that adults have dropped versus independent action. This measurement will incorporate nutritional analysis of foods along with acquisition rates. Intellectual merit: The data collected for this study will be used to test the ecological complexity model which holds that the adaptation of a long juvenile period is the result of reliance on difficult-to-acquire foods. In addition, this study will provide data on how large-brained, inexperienced juveniles meet their metabolic needs. Broader impacts of this study include (1) the training of a young female scientist and her Costa Rican field assistant, (2) creation of a partnership between the University of New Mexico and the Pacuare Nature Reserve in Costa Rica - a valuable site for conducting ecological research on important tropical species, (3) support for The Endangered Wildlife Trust, and (4) education of students who visit the reserve. This research will result in a doctoral dissertation and papers on the results will be submitted to prominent journals in the fields of evolutionary anthropology and primatology.
