Response to changes in food palatability in tufted capuchin monkeys, Cebus apella

Palatability of plant foods may change over time in relation to the concentration of toxic secondary metabolites. We investigated the behavioural response of capuchin monkeys to this type of change and assessed the influence of social conditions. Twenty-seven tufted capuchin monkeys were presented in Social or Individual conditions with a familiar palatable food (phase 1), with the same familiar food to which pepper had been added, making it unpalatable (phase 2), and with the same familiar palatable food of phase 1 (phase 3). Five sessions were carried out in each phase. The capuchins adapted quickly to the change in food palatability by reducing (phase 2) and increasing (phase 3) the amounts of food eaten. The unpalatable food prompted an increase in olfactory exploration and in food processing. The experimental conditions (Social versus Individual) did not influence consumption, or any of the other behaviours. In addition, capuchins were more often near subjects with food in phases 2 and 3 in which palatability changed than in phase 1. These findings show that capuchins readily adjust to changes in flavour and palatability of a familiar food and that sudden unpalatability has no carry-over effects. Therefore, capuchins behave differently towards a familiar food whose palatability has changed than they do towards novel foods. (C) 2000 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.