Conservation Status
The white-headed capuchin is regarded as "least concern" from a conservation standpoint by IUCN. However, its numbers are impacted by the fact that it is sometimes captured for the pet trade. Its status can also be harmed by deforestation. However, deforestation may also impact its main predator, the Harpy Eagle, more than it directly impacts the white-headed capuchin, and so on a net basis deforestation may not be as harmful to the capuchin's status. The white-headed capuchin can adapt to forest fragmentation better than other species due to its ability to live in a wide variety of forest types and exploit a wide variety of food sources. The white-headed capuchin is important to its ecosystems as a seed and pollen disperser. It also impacts the ecosystem by eating insects that act as pests to certain trees, by pruning certain trees, such as Gustavia superba and Bursera simaruba, causing them generate more branches and possibly additional fruit, and by accelerating germination of certain seeds when they pass through the capuchin's digestive tract. In addition, the white-headed capuchin sometimes kills Acacia collinsii plants when it rips through the plant's branches to get to resident ant colonies.
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