Habitual reliance on tool use is a marked behavioural difference between wild robust (genus Sapajus) and gracile (genus Cebus) capuchin monkeys. Despite being well studied and having a rich repertoire of social and extractive foraging traditions, Cebus sp. rarely use tools and have never been observed using stone tools. By contrast, habitual tool use by Sapajus is widespread. We review theory and discuss factors which might explain these differences in patterns of tool use between Cebus and Sapajus. We then report the first case of habitual stone tool use in a gracile capuchin: a population of white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus imitator) in Coiba National Park, Panama who habitually rely on hammerstone and anvil tool use to access structurally protected food items in coastal areas including Terminalia catappa seeds, hermit crabs, marine snails, terrestrial crabs and other items. This behaviour has persisted on one island in Coiba National Park since at least 2004. From 1 year of camera trapping, we found that stone tool use is strongly male-biased. Of the 205 camera trap days where tool use was recorded, adult females were never observed to use stone tools, although they were frequently recorded at the sites and engaged in scrounging behaviour. Stone tool use occurs year-round in this population; over half of all identifiable individuals were observed participating. At the most active tool use site, 83.2% of days where capuchins were sighted corresponded with tool use. Capuchins inhabiting the Coiba archipelago are highly terrestrial, under decreased predation pressure and potentially experience resource limitation compared to mainland populations—three conditions considered important for the evolution of stone tool use. White-faced capuchin tool use in Coiba National Park thus offers unique opportunities to explore the ecological drivers and evolutionary underpinnings of stone tool use in a comparative within- and between-species context.

Camera traps (CTs) are used for wildlife monitoring globally. How CTs are used in wildlife studies across Africa, however, remains unknown. We provide the first literature review of CT studies conducted across Africa, to describe where, to what end, and by whom CTs are used, and to identify apparent gaps in the use of CTs. We found 172 CT studies published across 60 scientific journals, conducted in 30 of 55 African countries from 2005 to 2017. Most studies were conducted over a single year/season (74%) and primarily addressed habitat use/species distribution (43%), species presence/richness (38.4%), behaviour (35.5%) or demographics (29.7%). Most studies took place in forest (52%), woodland (33%) and grassland (33%) habitat types, and focused on a single species (45.3%). Carnivores were the most commonly studied species group (86%), followed by large herbivores (58%) and primates (38%). Our results suggest that camera trapping is rapidly increasing in use across Africa and potentially driven by country‐based economic factors; however, there is room for improvement. CTs could be expanded in use for studies on underrepresented taxa (i.e. small mammals, reptiles and birds), investigations of human–wildlife conflict and understudied ecoregions (i.e. Sahara Desert).

Habitual reliance on tool use is a marked behavioral difference between wild robust (genus Sapajus) and gracile (genus Cebus) capuchin monkeys. Despite being well studied and having a rich repertoire of social and extractive foraging traditions, Cebus sp have rarely been observed engaging in tool use and have never been reported to use stone tools. In contrast, habitual tool use and stone-tool use by Sapajus is widespread. We discuss factors which might explain these differences in patterns of tool use between Cebus and Sapajus. We then report the first case of habitual stone-tool use in a gracile capuchin: a population of white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus imitator ) in Coiba National Park, Panama who habitually rely on hammerstone and anvil tool use to access structurally protected food items in coastal areas including Terminalia catappa seeds, hermit crabs, marine snails, terrestrial crabs, and other items. This behavior has persisted on one island in Coiba National Park since at least 2004. From one year of camera trapping, we found that stone tool use is strongly male-biased. Of the 205 unique camera-trap-days where tool use was recorded, adult females were never observed to use stone-tools, although they were frequently recorded at the sites and engaged in scrounging behavior. Stone-tool use occurs year-round in this population, and over half of all identifiable individuals were observed participating. At the most active tool use site, 83.2% of days where capuchins were sighted corresponded with tool use. Capuchins inhabiting the Coiba archipelago are highly terrestrial, under decreased predation pressure and potentially experience resource limitation compared to mainland populations-three conditions considered important for the evolution of stone tool use. White-faced capuchin tool use in Coiba National Park thus offers unique opportunities to explore the ecological drivers and evolutionary underpinnings of stone tool use in a comparative within-and between-species context.

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Epiphytic lifestyles have evolved independently in ecologically, morphologically, and taxonomically diverse plant species. Although this adaptation is widespread among angiosperms, it is only known to have arisen in a single gymnosperm species, Zamia pseudoparasitica (Cycadophyta). Zamia pseudoparasitica is endemic to the mountains of Western Panama, and little is known about the ecology of this unusual cycad. Here, we provide the first report of a potential seed disperser of Z. pseudoparasitica. Between late October 2019 and March 2020, we conducted arboreal camera trapping at three sites along the Talamanca Cordillera in Western Panama, yielding an accumulated survey effort of 271 camera days. Weekly direct observations were also performed using handheld binoculars at one site. Arboreal camera trapping revealed at least seven mammal species that visit this epiphytic cycad. At all three sites, the Northern olingo (Bassaricyon gabbii) was seen visiting individuals of Z. pseudoparasitica repeatedly, both while cones were closed and after they had opened. We estimated the time‐varying intensity of the visits throughout our sampling and used mixed models to compare the length of visits when cones were closed versus when they were open. Both duration and time‐varying intensity of visits increased after cones had opened and we documented Northern olingo removing and carrying away seeds. We also observed predation by the yellow‐eared toucanet (Selenidera spectabilis) which picked and destroyed mature Z. pseudoparasitica seeds. These results suggest that the Northern olingo could be an important seed dispersal agent for this rare epiphytic gymnosperm.

The Amazon forest has the highest biodiversity on earth. However, information on Amazonian vertebrate diversity is still deficient and scattered across the published, peer-reviewed and grey literature and in unpublished raw data. Camera traps are an effective non-invasive method of surveying vertebrates, applicable to different scales of time and space. In this study, we organized and standardized camera trap records from different Amazon regions to compile the most extensive dataset of inventories of mammal, bird and reptile species ever assembled for the area. The complete dataset comprises 154,123 records of 317 species (185 birds, 119 mammals and 13 reptiles) gathered from surveys from the Amazonian portion of eight countries (Brazil,

Terrestrial mammals exploiting coastal resources must cope with the challenge that resource availability and accessibility fluctuate with tidal cycles. Tool use can improve foraging efficiency and provide access to structurally protected resources that are otherwise unavailable (e.g., mollusks and fruits). To understand how variable accessibility of valuable resources shapes behavioral patterns, and whether tool use aids in the efficient exploitation of intertidal resources, we compared the relationship between tidal cycles and activity patterns of tool-using vs. non-tool-using groups of white-faced capuchin monkeys on Jicarón Island in Coiba National Park, Panama. Although only a single group of capuchins on Jicarón uses tools, all coastal groups forage on intertidal resources. Using data from >3 years of camera trapping at varying distances from the coast, we found that capuchins on Jicarón showed increased coastal activity during specific parts of the tidal cycle, and that this relationship differed between tool-using and non-tool-using groups, as well as between seasons. Activity patterns of tool-using capuchins were more strongly and consistently tied to tidal cycles compared to non-tool-users, indicating that tool use might allow for more efficient exploitation of tidal resources. Our findings highlight the potential of tool use to aid niche expansion.