Evidence of an infanticide in black-horned capuchin monkeys (Sapajus nigritus) in an Atlantic Forest remnant in Argentina

Gimena A. Illia; Martín Kowalewski; Luciana I. Oklander

doi:10.31687/saremNMS.21.2.6

Autores

Gimena A. Illia Instituto de Biología Subtropical (IBS), Universidad Nacional de Misiones (UNaM)– CONICET, Misiones, Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET).
Martín Kowalewski Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET). Estación Biológica Corrientes, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales «Bernardino Rivadavia», Corrientes, Argentina.
Luciana I. Oklander Instituto de Biología Subtropical (IBS), Universidad Nacional de Misiones (UNaM)– CONICET, Misiones, Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET).

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31687/saremNMS.21.2.6

Palavras-chave:

anthropogenic disturbance, Atlantic forest, infanticide, social pathology hypothesis

Resumo

An infanticide is a rare event but has important impact in primate populations. The black-horned capuchin monkey, Sapajus nigritus, is a native species from the Atlantic Forest. Previous reports of infanticide in this species are explained with the “sexual-selection” hypothesis, and occur in large groups and after a dominant male replacement. Here we provide evidence of a new case of infanticide by a non-identified member of a wild group of S. nigritus, in a remnant of the Atlantic Forest under anthropogenic disturbance. Our study group (30–35 individuals) overlapped its home range with other species' groups in an isolated forest fragment (570 ha). This primate overcrowding in a small area may have increased social intolerance and aggression. In this regard, this infanticide event may be associated to a non-adaptive explanation such as the social pathology hypothesis.

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