They have a tuft of hair on their head that is similar to the cowl or capuche worn by Franciscan monks, which is how they got their name. They also have white hair on their throat.
Capuchins have a well defined opposable thumb.
They primarily eat fruits and insects, but also small vertebrates and birds. Some of their foods are nuts, berries, seeds , flowers, buds, shoots, bark, gums, arachinids, eggs, and even oysters and crabs . They find food on the ground but mostly in the trees, usually only descending to the ground for water. They search under logs and leaves or tear off bark in order to find insects and small lizards. They are choosy eaters, picking out grubs from fruit and testing for ripeness by smelling and squeezing.