Infant tufted capuchin monkeys' behaviour with novel foods: opportunism, not selectivity

摘要

To determine whether young capuchin monkeys, Cebus apella, selectively interacted with others concerning novel foods, 11 infants (4.5-12 months) living in two groups were observed following presenctation of familiar or novel foods. Foods were presented either to the whole group or to infants in a section of the home cage to which only they had access. Infants showed more frequent interest in others' food and picked up foods more frequently when foods were novel, and they tended to eat novel foods more frequently than familiar foods.