As service animals
Some organizations, for example Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled, train capuchin monkeys as monkey helpers to assist quadriplegics and other people with severe spinal cord injuries or mobility impairments. After being socialized in a human home as infants, the monkeys undergo extensive training before being placed with a quadriplegic. Around the house, the monkeys help out by doing tasks including microwaving food, washing the quadriplegic's face and opening drink bottles. The capuchins (pron.: /?k?pj?tn/ or /?k?pj?n/) are New World monkeys of the subfamily Cebinae. Prior to 2011, the subfamily contained only a single genus, Cebus. However, in 2011 it was proposed to split the capuchin monkeys between the gracile capuchins in the genus Cebus and the robust capuchins in the genus Sapajus. The range of capuchin monkeys includes Central America and South America as far south as northern Argentina. The word capuchin derives from a group of friars named the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, an offshoot from the Franciscans, who wear brown robes with large hoods covering their heads. When explorers reached the Americas in the 15th century they found small monkeys who resembled these friars and named them capuchins. When the scientists described a specimen (thought to be a Golden-bellied capuchin) they noted that: "his muzzle of a tanned color,... with the lighter color around his eyes that melts into the white at the front, his cheeks..., give him the looks that involuntarily reminds us of the appearance that historically in our country represents ignora ce, laziness, and sensuality." The scientific name of the genus, Cebus, on the other hand, comes from the Greek word kebos, meaning a long-tailed monkey. The species-level taxonomy of this genus remains highly controversial, and alternative treatments than the one listed below have been suggested. In 2011, Jessica Lynch Alfaro et al proposed that the robust capuchins (formerly the C. apella group) be placed in a separate genus, Sapajus, from the gracile capuchins (formerly the C. capucinus group) which retain the Cebus genus. Other primatologists, such as Paul Garber, have begun using this classification. Like most New World monkeys, capuchins are diurnal and arboreal. With the exception of a midday nap, they spend their entire day searching for food. At night they sleep in the trees, wedged between branches. They are undemanding regarding their habitat and can thus be found in many differing areas. Potential predators include jaguars, cougars, jaguarundis, coyotes, tayras, snakes, crocodiles, and raptors, although there has only been one published observation of a predator taking a capuchin in the wild. The main predator of the tufted capuchin is the Harpy Eagle, which has been seen bringing several capuchins back to its nest. The diet of the capuchins is more varied than other monkeys in the family Cebidae. They are omnivores, eating not only fruits, nuts, seeds, and buds, but also insects, spiders, birds' eggs, and small vertebrates. Capuchins living near water will also eat crabs and shellfish by cracking their shells with stones.