The hands and feet are always black. The prehensile tail is darkest at the tip. These capuchins eat 96 species of fruit. The pith of scheelea palm fronds is a keystone food during the dry season when fruit is scarce. Birth seasons Oct-Jan.
Females have no estrous swelling.
One male is dominant to all the others, and young males may form a socially separate subgroup. Diurnal and arboreal. Tufted capuchins are very intelligent and curious. It has been hypothesized that intelligence is related to the way an animal searches for food. This species shows submission by a genital display and raised eyebrows.