---
title: "Tufted Capuchin (Sapajus apella) | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "A stocky Amazon monkey that smashes fruit its jaws cannot crack, or opens it with a piece of branch."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/tufted-capuchin-1.webp"
published: "2026-10-11"
updated: "2026-10-11"
---
# Tufted Capuchin (*Sapajus apella*)
> **Status**: Checked against 7 sources, listed under Sources below.
> **Tagline**: A stocky Amazon monkey that smashes fruit its jaws cannot crack, or opens it with a piece of branch.
> **Soundtrack Vibe**: Classic Hard Rock & Southern Blues // Led Zeppelin, "When the Levee Breaks"
> **Soundtrack Links**: [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/track/7psfcbjfnXwYIezHstNa1a)
> **Vibe Match**: Wild tufted capuchins open tough fruit by smashing it on tree surfaces or using baton-like pieces of branch. When the Levee Breaks is built on John Bonham's huge, slow drumbeat, struck hard and left to echo.
## Biological Superpowers & Stats
- **Taxonomy**: *Sapajus apella*
- **Danger Level**: Low
- **Conservation Status**: Least Concern ([IUCN Red List](https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2021-1.rlts.t172351505a192594550.en))
- **Superpower**: Opens otherwise inaccessible fruit by smashing it on tree surfaces or using baton-like pieces of branch
- **Habitat**: Forests of South America, with the heart of its range in the Amazon basin, mostly in the understory and lower to middle canopy
- **Diet**: Fruit, nuts, palm pith, insects and vertebrates such as frogs, lizards and birds
- **Tags**: mammal, primate, arboreal, tool-user, omnivore, rainforest, amazon
## Natural History & Behavior
## A monkey with a toolkit
Some fruits have husks a tufted capuchin cannot open with its teeth or jaws. So it uses a tool, an object that gets a job done. Wild ones smash those fruits against tree surfaces or work them open with baton-like pieces of branch. Young capuchins have been seen copying adults, though they often fail.
Its jaws help too. A deep lower jaw and large jaw muscles suit a diet of large fruits and rough vegetation. In a study of three adult female captive tufted capuchins (*Sapajus apella*), X-ray video of a chewing muscle showed that on tougher foods, such as popcorn seeds and cashews, the muscle's fibers rotated less as they shortened, a setup that favors more force.
## Small monkey, long life
Wild males average 3.65 kg and females 2.52 kg. Body length (head and body) is 444 mm in males and 390 mm in females, with a tail about as long as the rest of the body.
The longevity database AnAge puts the species' maximum at 46 years in captivity, from one animal that was about that age when it died.
## A very wide menu
Tufted capuchins are omnivores: they eat both plants and animals. The diet includes fruit, nuts, leaves, nectar and insects, plus frogs, lizards and birds. In the dry season, when food is often scarce, it relies on palm nuts and pith, the soft core of a palm. At one Amazon site the diet was 82 percent plants and 18 percent animal matter, and a typical day splits into 12 percent rest, 21 percent travel and 66 percent feeding.
> **Urine washing**
> Capuchins wash their hands and feet in urine and spread the scent over their fur, and by that odor they can tell members of other groups from their own.
## Troops of the Amazon
The species lives in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana and Venezuela, with the heart of its range in northwestern Brazil and the Amazon basin. It stays mostly in the understory and the lower and middle canopy. Troops often number in the teens or low twenties, led by an alpha male, and the harpy eagle is the main predator.
Genetic work points to an explosive expansion in the late Pleistocene, when the robust capuchins, the group called *Sapajus*, spread from the Atlantic Forest into the Amazon. The IUCN rates the species Least Concern.
## Frequently Asked Questions
### How much does a tufted capuchin weigh?
Males in the wild average about 3.65 kg and females about 2.52 kg. Captive animals can be heavier, with one extreme example averaging 6.089 kg for males. *(Source: [Primate Info Net, Wisconsin National Primate Research Center]())*
### How long can a tufted capuchin live?
The longevity database AnAge lists 46 years in captivity for the species, based on one animal that was about that age when it died. The Wisconsin factsheet says a captive male lived to at least 45. *(Source: [Human Ageing Genomic Resources, AnAge]())*
### Do tufted capuchins eat meat?
They eat animals as well as plants. Prey includes insects, frogs, lizards and birds, and one was seen killing and eating an infant titi monkey. At one Amazon site, plants made up 82 percent of the diet. *(Source: [Primate Info Net, Wisconsin National Primate Research Center]())*
### What is the main enemy of a tufted capuchin?
The harpy eagle is the main predator and has been seen attacking capuchins in several places. *(Source: [Primate Info Net, Wisconsin National Primate Research Center]())*
## Sources
1. [Tufted capuchin. Primate Info Net, Wisconsin National Primate Research Center.]()
2. [Cebus apella (brown capuchin). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.]()
3. [AnAge entry for Sapajus apella. Human Ageing Genomic Resources, AnAge.]()
4. [Cebus apella (Tufted Capuchin). The Online Guide to the Animals of Trinidad and Tobago, University of the West Indies.]()
5. [Laird et al. (2020). Muscle architecture dynamics modulate performance of the superficial anterior temporalis muscle during chewing in capuchins. Scientific Reports.]()
6. [Lynch Alfaro et al. (2011). Explosive Pleistocene range expansion leads to widespread Amazonian sympatry between robust and gracile capuchin monkeys. Journal of Biogeography.]()
7. [Boubli et al. (2021). Sapajus apella. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T172351505A192594550.]()
*Published October 11, 2026. Last updated October 11, 2026.*
```json
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@graph": [
{
"@type": "Article",
"@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/tufted-capuchin/#article",
"isPartOf": {
"@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/#website"
},
"headline": "Tufted Capuchin (Sapajus apella) | AnimalTracks.wiki",
"description": "A stocky Amazon monkey that smashes fruit its jaws cannot crack, or opens it with a piece of branch.",
"image": [
"https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/tufted-capuchin-1.webp"
],
"datePublished": "2026-10-11",
"dateModified": "2026-10-11",
"author": [
{
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "AnimalTracks.wiki Editorial Team",
"url": "https://animaltracks.wiki"
}
],
"publisher": {
"@type": "Organization",
"@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/#organization",
"name": "AnimalTracks.wiki",
"url": "https://animaltracks.wiki",
"logo": {
"@type": "ImageObject",
"url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/icon-512.png"
}
},
"mainEntityOfPage": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/tufted-capuchin/",
"citation": [
{
"@type": "CreativeWork",
"name": "Tufted capuchin",
"url": "https://primate.wisc.edu/primate-info-net/pin-factsheets/pin-factsheet-tufted-capuchin/",
"publisher": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Primate Info Net, Wisconsin National Primate Research Center"
}
},
{
"@type": "CreativeWork",
"name": "Cebus apella (brown capuchin)",
"url": "https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Cebus_apella/",
"publisher": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan"
}
},
{
"@type": "CreativeWork",
"name": "AnAge entry for Sapajus apella",
"url": "https://genomics.senescence.info/species/entry.php?species=Sapajus_apella",
"publisher": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Human Ageing Genomic Resources, AnAge"
}
},
{
"@type": "CreativeWork",
"name": "Cebus apella (Tufted Capuchin)",
"url": "https://sta.uwi.edu/fst/lifesciences/sites/default/files/lifesciences/images/Cebus_apella%20-%20Tufted%20Capuchin.pdf",
"publisher": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "The Online Guide to the Animals of Trinidad and Tobago, University of the West Indies"
}
},
{
"@type": "ScholarlyArticle",
"name": "Muscle architecture dynamics modulate performance of the superficial anterior temporalis muscle during chewing in capuchins",
"url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-63376-y",
"author": "Laird et al.",
"datePublished": "2020",
"isPartOf": {
"@type": "Periodical",
"name": "Scientific Reports"
},
"identifier": "doi:10.1038/s41598-020-63376-y"
},
{
"@type": "ScholarlyArticle",
"name": "Explosive Pleistocene range expansion leads to widespread Amazonian sympatry between robust and gracile capuchin monkeys",
"url": "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2011.02609.x",
"author": "Lynch Alfaro et al.",
"datePublished": "2011",
"isPartOf": {
"@type": "Periodical",
"name": "Journal of Biogeography"
},
"identifier": "doi:10.1111/j.1365-2699.2011.02609.x"
},
{
"@type": "ScholarlyArticle",
"name": "Sapajus apella. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T172351505A192594550",
"url": "https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2021-1.rlts.t172351505a192594550.en",
"author": "Boubli et al.",
"datePublished": "2021",
"isPartOf": {
"@type": "Periodical",
"name": "The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species"
},
"identifier": "doi:10.2305/iucn.uk.2021-1.rlts.t172351505a192594550.en"
}
],
"about": {
"@type": "Taxon",
"name": "Tufted Capuchin",
"scientificName": "Sapajus apella",
"description": "Opens otherwise inaccessible fruit by smashing it on tree surfaces or using baton-like pieces of branch"
}
},
{
"@type": "FAQPage",
"@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/tufted-capuchin/#faq",
"mainEntity": [
{
"@type": "Question",
"name": "How much does a tufted capuchin weigh?",
"acceptedAnswer": {
"@type": "Answer",
"text": "Males in the wild average about 3.65 kg and females about 2.52 kg. Captive animals can be heavier, with one extreme example averaging 6.089 kg for males.",
"citation": {
"@type": "CreativeWork",
"name": "Tufted capuchin",
"url": "https://primate.wisc.edu/primate-info-net/pin-factsheets/pin-factsheet-tufted-capuchin/",
"publisher": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Primate Info Net, Wisconsin National Primate Research Center"
}
}
}
},
{
"@type": "Question",
"name": "How long can a tufted capuchin live?",
"acceptedAnswer": {
"@type": "Answer",
"text": "The longevity database AnAge lists 46 years in captivity for the species, based on one animal that was about that age when it died. The Wisconsin factsheet says a captive male lived to at least 45.",
"citation": {
"@type": "CreativeWork",
"name": "AnAge entry for Sapajus apella",
"url": "https://genomics.senescence.info/species/entry.php?species=Sapajus_apella",
"publisher": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Human Ageing Genomic Resources, AnAge"
}
}
}
},
{
"@type": "Question",
"name": "Do tufted capuchins eat meat?",
"acceptedAnswer": {
"@type": "Answer",
"text": "They eat animals as well as plants. Prey includes insects, frogs, lizards and birds, and one was seen killing and eating an infant titi monkey. At one Amazon site, plants made up 82 percent of the diet.",
"citation": {
"@type": "CreativeWork",
"name": "Tufted capuchin",
"url": "https://primate.wisc.edu/primate-info-net/pin-factsheets/pin-factsheet-tufted-capuchin/",
"publisher": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Primate Info Net, Wisconsin National Primate Research Center"
}
}
}
},
{
"@type": "Question",
"name": "What is the main enemy of a tufted capuchin?",
"acceptedAnswer": {
"@type": "Answer",
"text": "The harpy eagle is the main predator and has been seen attacking capuchins in several places.",
"citation": {
"@type": "CreativeWork",
"name": "Tufted capuchin",
"url": "https://primate.wisc.edu/primate-info-net/pin-factsheets/pin-factsheet-tufted-capuchin/",
"publisher": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Primate Info Net, Wisconsin National Primate Research Center"
}
}
}
}
]
},
{
"@type": "MusicRecording",
"name": "When the Levee Breaks",
"byArtist": {
"@type": "MusicGroup",
"name": "Led Zeppelin"
},
"genre": "Classic Hard Rock & Southern Blues",
"url": "https://open.spotify.com/track/7psfcbjfnXwYIezHstNa1a"
}
]
}
```