The project is compose of a high trained team of scientists from different backgrounds, joining to study this topic
Principal Investigator
Dr. Tiago Falótico
orcid.org/0000-0002-0638-1989
Tiago is a biologist, ethologist and primatologist. He is a posdoc research fellow at the School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities at University of São Paulo, Brazil. He is also the cofounder of the NGO Neotropical Primates Research Group (Neoprego) and a National Geographic Explorer.
He has been studying capuchin monkeys and other primates for more than 15 years, and is now leading the CapCult project. His study about capuchin monkeys at Serra da Capivara National Park was the starting point for this project. This population has the most complex tool use behavior for capuchin monkeys known to date, and it is the initial comparison for the other study sites of the project.
Researchers
Dr. Giulia Sirianni
Giulia is a primatologist with experience in field work with capuchins and chimpanzees. She studies tool use and behavioral variance in primates. She is currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow at Università di Roma. She is working with archaeologist colleagues to begin to describe some of the new sites studied in this project. She is also working on field experiment to be used in the comparison between the populations.
Prof. Dr. Maria Cátira Bortolini
Biologist and geneticist with great experience in populations genetic diversity, genomic ancestrality and peopling of the Americas. She is a full professor at Rio Grande do Sul Federal University. Her team will study the genetic variance between and within the study populations.
Dr. Mariana D. Fogaça
Mari is a researcher into primate behavior using an evolutionary perspective to understand the interactions between ontogenetic feeding behavior and the physical properties of food and morphology of New World Primates. Her aims are to shed light on which variables play a role in the morphological evolution of the masticatory elements of anatomy and how this is related to the animal’s life history. She has been working with wild primates in the Rainforest since 2005 and also has experience at the Cerrado, Caatinga, and mangrove. She is also the cofounder of the NGO Neotropical Primates Research Group (Neoprego).
Dr. Michele P. Verderane
Michele Verderane is a researcher of Neotropical Primates Research Group. She has been studying social behavior of capuchins in Brazil since 2000, including semifree-ranging groups in Parque Ecológico do Tietê, São Paulo and wild groups in the Cerrado/Caatinga, in Fazenda Boa Vista, Piauí, with the EthoCebus research team since 2005, and more recently in Atlantic Forest, at Bahia. Cofounder and president of the NGO Neotropical Primates Research Group (Neoprego).
Msc. Paulo Henrique M. Coutinho
Paulo is a biologist and primatologist of Neotropical Primates Research Group. He has experience on wildlife management and experimental psychology, and he is establishing a field site at Serra das Confusões National Park, where he did his PhD research, observing the tool use behavior of the capuchin monkey population there.
Students
Msc. Tatiane Valença
Tatiane is a biologist and has a Master in animal behavior by the Institute of Psychology at the University of São Paulo. She worked as a technician in the project until June/2020, collecting and analysing behavioural data on from the project fieldwork. She is now a Doctoral student at the Institute of Psychology at USP, conducting a project to quantify and compare capuchin monkey terrestrially and its causes in some of the sites of the CAPCULT project.
BSc. Andrews Michel F. Oliveira Nunes
Andrews is a biologist and a Masters student in the Institute of Psychology at University of São Paulo. His project is to develop and apply probe experiments to compare the probe tool use repertoire between different sites of the CAPCULT project
BSc. Gabriela de Oliveira Affonço
Gabriela is a biologist and is a reseach assistant at Ubajara National Park. She is aiding in the data collection of tool use by the capuchins in that population since 2022.
BSc. Guilherme Henrique Mugnaini
Guilherme is a biologist and is a reseach assistant at Ubajara National Park. She is aiding in the data collection of tool use by the capuchins in that population since 2022.
Amanda Christina Macedo
Amanda was a undergraduate student in environmental management that did a research in about nutcracking by the capuchin monkeys at Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park.
Tatiana Espinola
Tatiana was a undergraduate student in environmental management that did a research in about nutcracking by the capuchin monkeys at Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park.
Matheus Albertin de Jesus
Matheus was a undergraduate student in biological sciences that helped in the video transcriptions of the tool use events at Ubajara and Chapada dos Veadeiros ccapuchin populations.
Allumni
Msc. Beatriz Cabrera Santana
Beatriz is a biologist and has a Master in fauna conservation by Federal University of São Carlos. She was a technitian assistant from 2020 to 2021 in the project. She helped to collect and analise data at Ubajara and Serra da Capivara.
Msc. Vivian Heloise Tavares de Sousa
Vivian was a technitian assistant at 2022 in the project. She helped to collect and analise data at Chapada Diamantina, Serra de Itabaiana, and Serra da Capivara.
CAPCULT 