Manipulative Monkeys

“Susan Perry and Joseph H. Manson’s book reveals capuchins as having social lives as rich and as complex as those…of humans… Perry’s book, with her husband and research partner, is far more than just stories about monkeys’ social lives. It offers fascinating biology from Costa Rica’s tropical forests, including the small, somewhat ugly, Machiavellian capuchin monkeys. They act as the focus for a discourse that ranges over ‘big questions’: why evolve large brains and intelligence; how do youngsters learn group-typical behavior; why does lethal aggression occur? These questions are embedded in the human drama of fieldwork; snakes, bugs of all kinds, plants with deadly toxicity, ill-fated collaborations, deep friendships and human poachers… We desperately need such studies to be sustained. Let’s hope this fascinating book will go some way towards achieving this aim.”—Phyllis C. Lee, Times Higher Education Supplement

“Capuchins are no regular monkeys. They have huge brains, and seem about as smart and ‘cultured’ as any ape. I know of no better guides to their social life than Susan Perry and Joe Manson, who have devoted their lives to studying these often overlooked creatures in the jungles of Costa Rica. The result is an account that is bound to fascinate and surprise, because the behavior of wild capuchins exceeds our wildest imagination.”—Frans de Waal, author of Our Inner Ape