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

OKLANDER, LUCIANA I.; ILLIA, GIMENA A.; KOWALEWSKI, MARTIN

Notas sobre Mamíferos Sudamericanos

Sociedad Argentina para el Estudio de los Mamíferos

Lugar: Buenos Aires; Año: 2021 vol. 3 p. 1 - 9

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