Bearded capuchins display a wide variety of manipulatory skills and make routine use of tools in both captivity and the wild. The efficient handling of objects in this genus has led several investigators to assume near-human thumb movements, despite a lack of anatomical studies. Here, we performed an anatomical analysis of muscles and bones in the capuchin hand. morphological traits were quantitatively compared with those of humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and baboons. The comparative analysis indicated that the hand is more similar to that of baboons and least similar to that of humans according to the muscles, bones, and three-dimensional data. Furthermore, these findings suggest that bearded capuchins lack true thumb opponency. Regarding manipulatory skills, they display rather primitive hand traits, with limited resources for precision grasping using the opponens pollicis. These findings suggest that bearded capuchins' complex use of tools depends more heavily on their high cognitive abilities than on a versatile hand apparatus. These findings offer crucial insights into the evolution of primate cognition.
Recent proliferation of GPS technology has transformed animal movement research. Yet, time-series data from this recent technology rarely span beyond a decade, constraining longitudinal research. Long-term field sites hold valuable historic animal location records, including hand-drawn maps and semantic descriptions.
Bearded capuchins display a wide variety of manipulatory skills and make routine use of tools in both captivity and the wild. The efficient handling of objects in this genus has led several investigators to assume near-human thumb movements, despite a lack of anatomical studies. Here, we performed an anatomical analysis of muscles and bones in the capuchin hand.
Handedness is a fundamental human trait, although recent research, especially on nonhuman primates, has shown that it is displayed by other animals as well (e.g., chimpanzees, gorillas).
Capuchin monkeys are unique among New World monkeys for their manual dexterity and use of tools. New research using magical sleight of hand shows visual perception of others' actions paralleling their manual skills.
Being able to anticipate another's actions is a crucial ability for social animals because it allows for coordinated reactions. However, little is known regarding how hand morphology and biomechanical ability influences such predictions. Sleight of hand magic capitalizes on the observer's expectations of specific manual movements, making it an optimal model to investigate the intersection between the ability to manually produce an action and the ability to predict the actions of others.
