If there is one monkey in Panama that seems to have been designed specifically to entertain backpackers, it is the white faced capuchin. With its dark body, pale face, expressive eyes and incredibly active personality, this is one of the most fascinating monkeys you can encounter in the Panamanian jungle. They look almost comical at times, but behind that innocent looking face is an extremely intelligent, adaptable and curious animal that has figured out how to take advantage of almost everything the tropical forest has to offer.
The white faced capuchin, known scientifically as Cebus imitator, is found throughout much of Panama and is one of the monkeys that travelers have a realistic chance of encountering while exploring the country's forests. Unlike some of Panama's more elusive wildlife, capuchins are active, social and constantly moving, which makes them much easier to notice when a troop is nearby. Of course, "easy to see" is a relative term in a rainforest. A capuchin can be right above your head one moment and completely disappear into the canopy the next.
The monkey that always seems to be investigating something
One of the first things you notice about white faced capuchins is that they are rarely doing absolutely nothing. They are constantly investigating their surroundings. They turn things over, inspect branches, search through vegetation, watch other members of their troop and investigate anything that looks remotely interesting.
They have incredibly dexterous hands and are capable of manipulating objects with surprising precision. Watching a capuchin searching for food can almost look like watching a tiny person rummaging through a cupboard. It grabs something, examines it, smells it, turns it around and decides whether it is worth eating.
This curiosity is one of the reasons capuchins are so fascinating to scientists. They are not simply reacting to their environment. They are capable of learning from experience and from one another, and some populations have developed remarkably sophisticated behaviors.
Their menu is almost ridiculously flexible
White faced capuchins are opportunistic omnivores, which is a very useful strategy when you live in a tropical forest. They eat plenty of fruit, but they are certainly not vegetarian specialists. Depending on what is available, they can eat insects, seeds, flowers, eggs and various small animals.
That flexibility gives them an enormous advantage. A fruit specialist might have a problem if a particular food becomes scarce, but a capuchin can simply change tactics. Today it might be eating fruit from a tree. Tomorrow it could be searching under bark for insects. Another day it might be looking for something completely different.
Their ability to exploit so many different food sources is one reason they can live successfully in a variety of forest environments.
They are surprisingly intelligent
Capuchins have a reputation among primatologists for being exceptionally clever. They have strong learning abilities, excellent memories and a remarkable capacity to figure things out.
Much of their knowledge comes from watching other members of the group. Young capuchins spend enormous amounts of time observing adults and other youngsters. They learn what to eat, where to look for food, how to move through the forest and how to behave around other members of the troop.
This means that being a successful capuchin is not simply about being born with the right instincts. There is a lot to learn.
And the learning never really stops.
Panama's tool using capuchins
Things become even more interesting when you look at capuchins that use tools.
Researchers studying white faced capuchins on Jicarón Island in Coiba National Park have documented the use of stones for certain activities. This is an extraordinary behavior because it demonstrates that the animals can select an object and use it to accomplish something.
Tool use is often associated in people's minds with great apes, but several types of monkeys have demonstrated impressive abilities in this area. Capuchins are particularly interesting because of how much variation there can be between different populations.
A group can essentially develop its own little collection of tricks.
One individual discovers something useful, another watches, and eventually other members begin doing it themselves. Over time, behaviors can spread socially through the troop.
That makes a capuchin troop more than just a collection of animals living together. In some ways, it has its own learned traditions.
The bizarre baby howler story
Panama has also produced one of the strangest recent stories in the world of monkey behavior.
On Jicarón Island, young male white faced capuchins were observed carrying baby howler monkeys around the forest. Some of the infants were carried for days, and the behavior was observed in multiple young capuchins.
Scientists were fascinated because this is not normal behavior for capuchins. They still do not have a definitive explanation for why it happened, although the possibility that the behavior spread socially among young males has attracted attention.
Sadly, some of the baby howlers died from malnutrition because the capuchins could not nurse them.
It is a strange and slightly heartbreaking example of just how unpredictable animal behavior can be. Nature does not always follow the neat rules we expect it to.
A very social animal
White faced capuchins live in social groups, and their relationships can be surprisingly complicated. There are hierarchies, alliances, mothers and youngsters, friendships, rivalries and plenty of communication.
They use a variety of calls, gestures and body movements to communicate with one another. A troop moving through the forest can therefore be a surprisingly noisy affair.
Young capuchins also spend a lot of time playing. Chasing one another, wrestling, jumping through branches and experimenting with their environment are all part of growing up.
And play is not simply entertainment. It helps young animals develop coordination, social skills and the physical abilities they will eventually need as adults.
They are excellent climbers
Although they do not have the enormous limbs and specialized tails of spider monkeys, capuchins are extremely capable climbers.
They move through the forest canopy, jump between branches and descend to lower levels when searching for food. Their hands and feet are highly useful for gripping branches, while their compact bodies allow them to move through dense vegetation.
Watching a troop travel through the forest can be almost dizzying. One monkey disappears behind a tree, another leaps across a gap, a youngster races after an adult and suddenly the entire group seems to have vanished.
Then you notice one sitting quietly on a branch watching you.
They were never really gone.
And yes, you often see them around Lost and Found Hostel
One of the special things about staying at Lost and Found Hostel is that the wildlife is not something that necessarily begins several kilometers down a trail. The hostel sits in a forested environment inside the Fortuna Forest Reserve, and white faced monkeys are often seen around the Lost and Found property.
For travelers, this can produce some wonderfully unexpected encounters.
You might be sitting in a hammock talking to other backpackers when someone suddenly looks up and spots movement in the trees. A few seconds later, everyone is staring into the canopy trying to figure out what is moving.
Then the white face appears.
Sometimes it is one monkey quietly watching from a branch. Other times an entire troop is moving through the trees, jumping from branch to branch and disappearing deeper into the forest.
It is one of those moments that makes a jungle hostel feel completely different from an ordinary place to sleep. You are not simply staying beside nature. You are surrounded by it.
They do not need to perform for you
One of the most important things to remember when seeing capuchins around the hostel or anywhere else in Panama is that they are wild animals.
Their curiosity can sometimes make them seem almost tame, but they are not pets. They have their own social lives, territories and natural behaviors.
The best encounter is therefore one where you simply watch them doing their own thing.
Do not feed them or try to attract them with food. Feeding wild monkeys can alter their natural behavior and create problems for both the animals and people.
If a capuchin decides to sit in a tree twenty meters away and watch you, that is perfect.
Let him wonder what you are doing.
Look up
One of the biggest mistakes people make when walking through a Panamanian rainforest is looking only at the trail.
The jungle is three dimensional.
There is an entire world happening above you.
When you are around Lost and Found, walking the trails or simply relaxing around the property, keep an eye on the canopy. Look for leaves moving when there is no wind. Listen for calls. Watch the branches.
Sometimes the first indication that capuchins are nearby is not seeing a monkey at all. It is hearing movement in the vegetation.
Then you look up.
And there they are.
The perfect jungle personality
White faced capuchins are fascinating because they seem to combine so many of the qualities people love about wildlife. They are intelligent without being predictable, curious without being completely fearless, social without being simple, and playful while still being highly effective survivors.
They have learned how to exploit an enormous variety of food sources, communicate within complex social groups, learn from one another and, in some populations, even use tools.
But perhaps their greatest talent is simply making people stop and pay attention.
A traveler can spend hours worrying about bus schedules, accommodation, phone batteries and where to go next. Then a white faced monkey suddenly appears overhead and all of that becomes irrelevant for a few minutes.
Everyone stops.
Everyone looks up.
And suddenly the jungle has everyone's full attention.
That is the magic of the white faced capuchin in Panama. They are not the biggest monkey, the loudest monkey or necessarily the rarest monkey. They are simply one of the most entertaining, intelligent and fascinating characters you can meet in the forest.
And if you are staying at Lost and Found Hostel, you may not even have to go looking for them.
Sometimes they come looking for you.