Endangered blonde capuchins living in Brazil's Atlantic Rainforest have been observed performing two methods of tool use never before witnessed in any non-human primate.
Researcher Antonio Souto, of the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, documents two complex and spontaneous methods of termite fishing in his paper, published today in Biology Letters.
Tool modification and usage in capuchins is well documented but this social group displayed two entirely novel uses; nest tapping and stick rotation.
Souto regularly observed three out of the six monkeys climbing a tree and hitting a termite nest, before rotating a stick inside the nest, maximising the number of termites caught.
Souto believes the behaviour of these blonde capuchins, of whom there are only 180 left worldwide, could cause primatologists to permanently revise accepted tool use theories.
Souto believes the behaviour of these blonde capuchins, of whom there are only 180 left worldwide, could cause primatologists to permanently revise accepted tool use theories.
The full scientific paper, published in Biology Letters by Souto et al on March 8th 2012, can be found here: Critically endangered blonde capuchins fish for termites and use new techniques to accomplish the task
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