Food Mechanics, Foraging Behavior, and The Evolution of 'Robust' (Cebus apella) and 'Gracile' (Cebus olivaceus) Capuchin Monkeys in Guyana

这个项目的目标是比较食物力学，和食品加工行为的簇绒卷尾猴（Cebus apella）和哭泣卷尾猴（Cebus olivaceus）在Iwokrama雨林保护区，圭亚那。 卷尾猴是新世界的猴子，分布在中美洲到南美洲南部。 Cebus属具有两种不同的形态类型：簇状或“健壮”类型由单个物种组成，三种无簇状或“纤细”类型，包括C。Olivaceus，本研究的感兴趣物种。 簇绒型以其更“健壮”和强大的咀嚼系统而闻名。 然而，关于每个物种所吃食物的机械特性的差异以及这种差异与卷尾猴解剖学的关系知之甚少。 本研究的主要目的是收集行为数据的物种差异的模式的食物准备和加工（手工和口服），和详细的季节性数据的物理特性的食物，他们摄取。 现存卷尾猴的“健壮”和“纤细”物种之间的生态形态学差异的研究提供了一个独特的机会，以测试有关其他“健壮”和“纤细”灵长类动物，如人类祖先中灭绝的灵长类动物的摄食生态学变化的问题。 这不仅是因为它们与早期类人祖先的咀嚼相似，而且还因为它们与大猿和现代人类共享的广泛特征，例如婴儿发育缓慢，在各种情况下使用工具，以及除人类外任何灵长类动物中最大的相对大脑大小。 此外，在过去的十年中，关于食物的机械性质与灵长类动物咀嚼系统之间关系的研究也引起了越来越多的兴趣。 咀嚼形态的差异和现有的水果和种子的机械性能的数据提供了重要的洞察解剖学和喂养生态学的物种特异性差异。 这个项目将通过确定更多的离散机械类别的食物，并通过这些类别之间的同源灵长类动物物种更微妙的形态差异增加这方面的知识。

The goal of this project is to compare the food mechanics, and food processing behavior of tufted capuchins (Cebus apella) and weeper capuchins (Cebus olivaceus) at the Iwokrama Rainforest Reserve, Guyana. Capuchins are New World monkeys ranging from Central to southern South America. The genus Cebus exhibits two distinct morphological types; the tufted or "robust" type consisting of a single species and three species of untufted or "gracile" types, including C. olivaceus, the species of interest to this study. The tufted type is noted for its more "robust" and powerful masticatory system. However, little is known regarding differences in the mechanical properties of foods eaten by each species and how such differences relate to capuchin anatomy. The main objectives of this study are to collect behavioral data on species differences in patterns of food preparation and processing (manual and oral), and detailed seasonal data on the physical properties of the foods they ingest. The study of ecomorphological distinctions between "robust" and "gracile" species of extant capuchin offers a unique opportunity to test questions concerning variability in the feeding ecology of other "robust" and "gracile" primates such as extinct primates in human ancestry. This is due not only to the masticatory similarities they share with early human-like ancestors, but also to the broad set of features they share with great apes and modern humans, such as slow infant development, tool-use in various contexts, and the largest relative brain size of any primate except humans. In addition, research concerning the relationship between the mechanical properties of foods and the masticatory systems of primates has seen growing interest over the last decade. Data on differences in masticatory morphology and on the mechanical properties of available fruits and seeds have provided critical insight into species-specific differences in anatomy and feeding ecology. This project will add to this knowledge by identifying more discrete mechanical categories for foods, and by relating these categories to more subtle morphological differences between congeneric primate species.