Black-horned capuchin
The black capuchin, (Sapajus nigritus), also known as the black-horned capuchin, is a capuchin monkey from the Atlantic Forest in south-eastern Brazil and far north-eastern Argentina. Historically, it was included as a subspecies of the tufted capuchin.
Black capuchins belong to the New World monkeys and are found only in South America. They have dark brown or black fur on the body, and white areas around the cheeks and forehead. Black capuchins have a prehensile tail, which helps them move through the trees with ease.
Black capuchins are found in the Atlantic Forest in south-eastern Brazil and far north-eastern Argentina. They inhabit submontane and montane moist forest.
Black capuchins are considered arboreal creatures. They mainly occur in the tree canopy, however will also drop to the forest floor to forage, where insects and nuts are most abundant. They arediurnal and social animals. They like to live in groups, usually consisting of 6 to 20 members, and are hierarchal. Despite the fact that these groups tend to be made up of more females than males, the alpha female of the group is submissive to the alpha male. Communication within groups consists of bodily, facial and vocal communications. One example of this is the 'scream embrace mechanism’, a high pitched called used to regroup members of a group. This call is usually used between males.
Black capuchins are omnivores. Their diet consists of fruit, flowers, leaves, insects, spiders and even small mammals.
Little is known about the mating system in Black capuchins. Females give birth to a single infant after a gestation period that lasts around 151-155 days. Females in this species become reproductively mature at 4 years of age, while males usually attain maturity a few years later.
Black capuchins are threatened mainly by the habitat loss, hunting, and the pet trade. They are also considered a crop pest in some areas of their range such as pine plantations and sugar cane.
The IUCN Red List and other sources don’t provide the number of the Black capuchin total population size. Currently, this species is classified as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List and its numbers today are decreasing.
Black capuchins eat fruits and thus act as important seed dispersers of their range. This way these animals contribute to regeneration of the forest.