Serra das Confusões National Park (SCoNP) is located south of the Piauí state. It is the largest conservation unit for the Caatinga biome, a unique Brazilian environment
It is home to a population of bearded capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus) that are known to use stone tools to access encased food.
Because it is in between two well-known and different capuchin monkey populations regarding tool use, this park was of interest to be studied by our research team. A mapping of nut-cracking sites was done here in 2016 by Neoprego researchers, and some groups have been studied to describe the nut-cracking behavior from 2018 to 2019 by our member Paulo Henrique M. Coutinho when doing his doctorate at the Institute of Psychology of the University of São Paulo.
More recently, we have included this site in the comparison done in the CapCult project. This population is understudied, and we hope to deepen our knowledge about this capuchin population.
Besides the capuchins, the park is also home of groups of common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) and howler monkeys (Alouatta caraya), still not well studied by primatologists.
References:
- Falótico, T., Coutinho, P. H. M., Bueno, C. Q., Rufo, H. P., & Ottoni, E. B. (2018). Stone tool use by wild capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus) at Serra das Confusões National Park, Brazil. Primates, 59(4), 385–394. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-018-0660-0
- Falótico, T., Valença, T., Verderane, M. P., & Fogaça, M. D. (2022). Stone tools differences across three capuchin monkey populations: food’s physical properties, ecology, and culture. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 14365. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-18661-3