Large-Headed Capuchin Monkey

Facts about Large-Headed capuchin monkey. "Scientific name for Large-Headed capuchin monkey is Cebus macrocephalus". Large-Headed capuchin monkey is a New World monkey variety of the tufted capuchin that belongs to the genus Sapajus of the Cebidae family. The Large-Headed capuchin monkeys are native to South America and they are largely found in Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru.

Features of Large-Headed capuchin monkey

The Large-Headed capuchin monkey is a small-size animal when compared to other monkey varieties in their family, with the body length, ranging from 12 inches (30 cm) to 22 inches (56 cm). Usually, the adult male Large-Headed capuchin monkey is heavier than the female monkey, with the body mass, ranging from 1.35 kg (2.9 lbs) to 4.8 kg (10.5 lbs), whereas the female Large-Headed capuchin monkey has a body mass between 1.76 kg (3.8 lbs) and 3.4 kg (7.4 lbs).

The Large-Headed capuchin monkey varieties have a big head and a prehensile tail, which has the equal length as their body length. The body of the Large-Headed capuchin monkeys is covered with different colors of fur, with light brown or white color fur on their face, shoulders and neck and dark brown color fur on the rest parts of their body.

The Large-Headed capuchin monkeys are inhabitants of almost all natures of Amazonian lowland and sub-mountain woodland, particularly the forest with an abundance of palm trees. They occur in an extensive range of homes in Colombia, ranging from deciduous woodland of the Llanos Orientales to damp evergreen forest in addition to secondary growth forests. The Large-Headed capuchin monkey prefer to live in humid plains and sub-mountain forests in Ecuador. These monkeys are reluctant to live in flooded forest.

Diet of Large-Headed capuchin monkey

The Large-headed Capuchin Monkey is a frugivorous and insectivorous animal, and it feeds on an extensive variety of seeds, fruits and arthropods, nestlings, frogs and even small creatures, supplemented by flowers, stems and leaves. The Large-Headed capuchin monkey are serious farming pests in some parts of Colombia, consuming sugar cane, corn cacao and other fruit trees. The Large-headed Capuchin Monkey is an extractive, manipulative forager and they differ most distinctly in their diet in the course of their exercise of palm fruits.

Behavior of Large-Headed capuchin monkey

The Large-headed Capuchin Monkey varieties are very social and they always found in groups that consist of a minimum of 18 monkeys, such that the numbers of female monkeys exceed the numbers of male monkeys with a mature female to male ratio of 100:85. Male Large-Headed capuchin monkeys used to disperse, and male and female monkeys adopt linear hierarchies, such that the top ranking male monkey being overridden the top ranking female monkey. Secondary male monkeys are regularly peripheral. The Large-Headed capuchin monkey groups spend most of their time in associating with the groups of squirrel monkeys. They are extremely clever animals that use dissimilar kinds of tools, such as branches, sticks, and stones to open nuts, shells and hard seeds.

The Large-headed Capuchin Monkey varieties spend the majority of their life in the treetops, where they can locate food and keep away from predators. Their major predators include boa constrictors, hawks, jaguars and eagles. The Large-Headed capuchin monkeys use a special kind of caution call, such as sharp whistling to alert their group members in the case of any hazard. When these monkeys greet each other, they produce a sound called Purr.

Reproduction of Large-Headed capuchin monkey

The Large-headed Capuchin Monkey varieties breed throughout the year. Male monkeys urinate on their hands and cover their whole body with urine to magnetize the female monkeys for mating. After the gestation period of 157 to 167 days, the female monkey offers birth to a single infant at the last part of the dry season and at the commencement of the raining season, usually from December to April. Only the mother Large-Headed capuchin monkey will take care of the infants. The juvenile monkeys will leave their biological group once they attain the sexual maturity.

Though the lifespan of the Large-headed Capuchin Monkey is not known in the wild, in the captive, they live up to 50 years.