mammal · CR

White-faced Capuchin

Cebus imitator

Overview

Clever, curious troops. Do not feed them, ever.

The white-faced capuchin is the rainforest's problem-solver, a three-kilogram primate with a prefrontal agenda. Troops of ten to thirty sweep through Costa Rican forest like an audit, turning leaves, cracking branches, unrolling bark, testing everything with hands that are nearly as clever as the brain behind them. Capuchins use tools, rub themselves with citrus and pepper plants as insect repellent, and maintain politics complicated enough that primatologists build careers on single troops. They live long, sometimes past 40, and they remember. In parks like Manuel Antonio they have also learned that tourists mean bags, and bags mean food, a lesson that took them approximately one afternoon.

Behaviour

Loud, social, hierarchical troops that mob snakes and raptors. Grooming settles alliances; squabbles are constant and mostly theater.

Diet

Fruit and insects mostly, plus flowers, eggs, small vertebrates and crabs pried from mangrove roots; almost nothing edible is off the menu.

Photography

Mid-morning foraging parties at forest edges give clean sightlines. Fast shutter, 1/1000 up, and watch the hands; the best capuchin photos are about what the hands are doing.

Ethics

Zip the bag, hide the food, and never trade snacks for photos. A raiding capuchin is a bitten tourist and eventually a destroyed monkey.

Where you'll find them

Generalised encounter areas, not exact locations. Each shape is a grid cell coloured by how likely the species is there.

Costa Rica
10 km zone · high confidence · 163 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 24 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 24 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 15 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 7 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 11 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 17 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 18 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 7 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 12 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 24 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 57 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 13 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 6 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 11 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 6 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 42 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 19 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 38 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 8 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 14 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 7 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 33 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 6 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 6 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 31 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 27 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 25 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 12 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 25 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 23 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 8 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 21 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 8 records · updated 1 day ago
Very likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 18 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 18 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 16 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 14 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 13 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 12 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 6 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 10 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 10 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 10 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 10 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 10 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 9 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 9 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 8 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 7 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 7 records · updated 1 day ago
Likely
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 6 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 6 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 6 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 6 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 5 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 4 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 4 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 4 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 4 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 4 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 4 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 4 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Possible
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Uncommon
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Rare
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Rare
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Rare
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Rare
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Rare
Costa Rica
10 km zone · medium confidence · 3 records · updated 1 day ago
Rare

Similar species

mammalEN

Sensitive · location generalised

Baird's Tapir

Tapirus bairdii

Ancient forest engineer; patience is the only technique.

Very likelyCR

mammalNT

Sensitive · location generalised

Jaguar

Panthera onca

Tracks along the beach at Corcovado; the animal itself is a gift.

Very likelyCR

mammalVU

Sensitive · location generalised

Leopard

Panthera pardus

Cryptic, solitary, and everywhere, if you know where to look.

Very likelyNA · CR

mammalVU

Mantled Howler Monkey

Alouatta palliata

The sound of the neotropics at first light.

Very likelyCR