A curious thing happens to white-faced capuchin monkeys when they anoint their bodies with mud and plant matter, a natural insect repellent: With their heads and faces slathered in goop, these highly social primates lose their ability to recognize each other. Previously friendly monkeys can become fighting foes.
This abrupt change in behavior hints at the importance of facial expressions for recognition, University of Washington evolutionary biologist Sharlene Santana says, and could help to explain why primate faces are so wildly divergent: Some species, like white-faced capuchins, have monotone hair and skin color; others, like the northern owl monkey, sport a dramatic mix of fur and flesh tones.
Biologists have long seen primates’ facial expressions during social interactions as clues that factors like group size drove the stark differences in their facial evolution. But there was little direct evidence to support the theories, so Santana decided to study a large number of monkey species, in a wide variety of social group sizes and environments, to see how their faces had evolved.
