Hooded Capuchin

About the Hooded Capuchin

Azaras's capuchin or hooded capuchin (Sapajus cay) is a species of robust capuchin. It occurs in eastern Paraguay, southeastern Bolivia, northern Argentina, and Brazil, at Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso states, in Pantanal. Its habitat consists of subtropical, humid, semi-deciduous, gallery forests and forested regions of the Pantanals. Formerly, it was considered a subspecies of black-striped capuchin, according to Groves (2005) with the name Cebus libidinosus paraguayanus, but Silva Jr. (2001) considered it a separated species. They are considered as frugivores-insectivores which means that their diet mainly consists of a variety of fruits, seeds, arthropods, frogs, small mammals, etc.

Cebus and Sapajus have been widely recognized as subgenera–or groups–of the capuchin monkey's subfamily Cebinae. There is data hinting towards an estimated separation time between these two subgenera of about 6.2 million years. Evidence indicates that during the Miocene, these two groups diverged from each other due to the emergence of the Amazon river; Cebus (gracile capuchin) expanded northwards towards the Amazon rainforest, and Sapajus (robust capuchin) expanded... Wikipedia →