Capuchin Monkey
MACI arrived at Animal Tracks in June 2014 at the age of 3, surrendered by her owners for being an illegally owned pet. She currently lives with Bailey, a 4-year-old white-faced capuchin, where she plays the role of a big sister or auntie.
Maci is a sweet, playful monkey who loves to wrestle and have fun with the people she’s close to. She’s also known as a “cleaner”—she loves to swipe our rakes while we’re cleaning or steal baby wipes from us in her enclosure to clean up on her own!
One of her most endearing habits is playing matchmaker—Maci enjoys making people, whether they know each other or not, hold hands. It’s as if she’s orchestrating her own little connections! Additionally, Maci is quite the scientist, conducting her own “experiments.” For example, she figured out that if she fills one of her play cups with water, she can carry it around just like we carry a coffee cup!
Maci is a hybrid, part golden capuchin, and, like all monkeys, she’s not suited to life as a pet.
ORDER: PRIMATES
FAMILY: CEBIDAE
GENUS: SAPAJUS
SPECIES: APELLA
Capuchins are diurnal or day dwelling. They are arboreal, live in the trees. They move quadrupedally, by leaping and climbing. They are highly sociable and live in groups of around 8 to 15 individuals. Grooming is a way of taking care of the ones you love, but also climbing the social ladder. They live in a patriarchal society where the male is boss. They are omnivores and eat fruit, leaves, insects, rodents, and reptiles. They are polygamists. The female is pregnant for 150-160 days and normally has one baby at a time. The babies stop nursing at 9 months. Males mature at the age of 7 years, females, much younger, they can have their first child at the age of 4. Capuchins have a superpower, they are seed dispersers, which means they eat the seeds as part of the fruit they consume, and once they defecate, those seeds are ready to become plants and trees.
Threats
Habitat destruction. Jaguars, birds of prey and bushmeat, pet trade and entertainment industry.
Conservation Status
CE - Critically Endangered