Cracking Capuchins: Investigation stone tool use by white-faced capuchin monkeys using camera traps

During my PhD, I investigated stone tool use by white-faced capuchin monkeys on islands in Panama, whose tradition is unique to their species and varies within and between islands. Using motion-triggered camera traps, I explored why tool use arose and persisted here, aiming to understand the conditions driving such behavioral innovations. I found that tool use is highly variable and shaped by a combination of social learning and ecological factors, such as tidal cycles, and may in turn shape group social dynamics. Furthermore, I found that the same conditions that favor innovation of tool use may also give rise to other rare behaviors, such as interspecies infant abduction. Together, these findings offer new insights into the factors that enable complex behaviors like tool use to arise and spread in the wild.