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The strategic role of the tail in maintaining balance while carrying a load bipedally in wild capuchins (Sapajus libidinosus): a pilot study

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Abstract

The ability to carry objects has been considered an important selective pressure favoring the evolution of bipedal locomotion in early hominins. Comparable behaviors by extant primates have been studied very little, as few primates habitually carry objects bipedally. However, wild bearded capuchins living at Fazenda Boa Vista spontaneously and habitually transport stone tools by walking bipedally, allowing us to examine the characteristics of bipedal locomotion during object transport by a generalized primate. In this pilot study, we investigated the mechanical aspects of position and velocity of the center of mass, trunk inclination, and forelimb postures, and the torque of the forces applied on each anatomical segment in wild bearded capuchin monkeys during the transport of objects, with particular attention to the tail and its role in balancing the body. Our results indicate that body mass strongly affects the posture of transport and that capuchins are able to carry heavy loads bipedally with a bent-hip-bent-knee posture, thanks to the “strategic” use of their extendable tail; in fact, without this anatomical structure, constituting only 5 % of their body mass, they would be unable to transport the loads that they habitually carry.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to the Familia de Oliveira for permission to work at Fazenda Boa Vista, Stephen Fragaszy and Tom Pickering for assistance in conducting the trials, and Qing Liu for assistance provided to LM in the application of biomechanics to capuchins. This research was supported by grants from the National Geographic Society, the LSB Leakey Foundation and the post lauream scholarship from Sapienza University of Rome (awarded to LM).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 00198, Rome, Italy

    Luciana Massaro & Elisabetta Visalberghi

  2. Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie “Charles Darwin”, Sapienza Università di Roma, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Luciana Massaro

  3. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Fabrizio Massa

  4. Kinesiology Department, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Kathy Simpson

  5. Psychology Department, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Dorothy Fragaszy

Authors
  1. Luciana Massaro
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  2. Fabrizio Massa
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  3. Kathy Simpson
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  4. Dorothy Fragaszy
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  5. Elisabetta Visalberghi
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Correspondence to Luciana Massaro.

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Massaro, L., Massa, F., Simpson, K. et al. The strategic role of the tail in maintaining balance while carrying a load bipedally in wild capuchins (Sapajus libidinosus): a pilot study. Primates 57, 231–239 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-015-0507-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-015-0507-x

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