Capuchins in GURPS

Cebus sp., Sapajus sp.

Capuchins are jungle monkeys from Central and South America. They have prehensile tails that help them clamber through trees. They are quite capable of leaping between trees when the branches do not bridge the gap. Capuchins have the most agile hands of any new world monkey, with a semi-opposable thumb capable of precision gripping. Capuchins are omnivores, with a diet consisting of fruit, insects and other invertebrates, small vertebrates, and eggs. They forage both in the trees and on the ground.

Capuchin bands are matrilocal. They contain multiple males as well as the females. Although capuchins have a linear dominance hierarchy, they are not always matrilineal - rank is not inherited among white-faced capuchins, for example, but it is among wedge-capped capuchins. However, even among non-matrilineal groups the females do prefer to associate with kin over non-kin, and in addition they prefer to associate with those cloe to their own level in the hierarchy. Males are dominant over females in some species but not in others. The males cooperate in driving off rival bands and predators. The alpha male leads the group, the rest of the band look to him for guidance and take their cues in how to act from him.

Capuchins are known to use tools. They rub noxious leaves or millipedes on their hair to repel pests, they smash open palm nuts and hard-shelled prey with rocks, they hit snakes with sticks, use sticks to probe openings or dig in the dirt, and use trees as anvils to crack open mullusk shells.

Capuchins are listed as having red-green colorblindness. This is true of nearly all male capuchins. Some females, however, do not have this trait. Females capuchins can freely buy off the colorblindness quirk at character creation but not thereafter.

There are two main groups of capuchins - the gracile capuchins (genus Cebus) and the robust capuchins (genus Sapajus). Robust capuchins have shorter limbs and more powerful jaws. They use their more robust jaws for cracking open hard seeds. Robust capuchins also have a tuft of fur atop their heads and beards.

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