Carrying, sharing, and hand preference in tufted capuchins (Cebus apella)

We examined the relationship among carrying, food-sharing, and hand prefere nce in tufted capuchins (Cebus apella). The rationale was to evaluate furth er the use of Cebus as an alternative primate model to Pan for behavior rel evant to early hominid evolution. We first examined bipedalism and food-sha ring within an established social group, and then examined the direction an d strength of hand preference for food carrying in an expanded sample. Seve ral aspects of capuchin behavior warrant discussion. First, bipedal carryin g and food-sharing occurred more frequently when we provided bulky foods th an when we provided smaller foods. Second, food-sharing was characterized b y passive tolerance, rather than active giving between subjects. Third, sub jects shared food primarily with immatures and followed a pattern of recipr ocal exchange. Finally, we found no evidence for population-level hand pref erence for carrying. We posit that an away of behavioral similarities among Cebus, Pan, and Homo evolved through convergent processes, and in this reg ard capuchins can be seen as an alternative primate model to chimpanzees fo r the evolution of early hominid behavior