When food is scarce, black capuchins split up into smaller groups to cover more ground per capita.

Even these conflicts, however, are generally relegated to the male portion of the population, with one study finding that females participated in only 19% of such fights.

[8] The purpose of such bonding is often for lower-ranked monkeys to procure easier food access from dominant bond-partners.

The frequency increases even more based on rank-difference; the less equal the monkeys' footing in the above described situation, the more likely face-to-face grooming is.

[4] To initiate mating, females possess a wide variety of signals, both auditory and ocular, which they employ at different stages of the process.

For the same ends, the potentially impregnated female might use visual signals to assure the alpha of his status as her mate, while using vocalizations to confuse the other males as to who the father truly is, thereby discouraging aggression.

They are considered arboreal, mainly dwelling in the tree canopy; however, they will also drop to the forest floor to forage, where insects and nuts are most abundant.

They eat a wide variety of foods, including insects, bird eggs, small vertebrates, leaves, bulbs, seeds, and fruits.

When they exist in small patches of forest which lack adequate amounts of fruit to feed the whole group, black capuchins have been known to exploit nearby agricultural operations by stripping the bark from trees to eat the pine sap and phloem underneath.

[10] The black capuchin has three subspecies: Sapajus n. nigritus (nominate) and S. n. cucullatus are found in the southern part (the former eastwards, and the latter westwards) of this species' range, and both have a distinctive pair of tufts on the crown, as also suggested by the alternative common name of this species: black-horned capuchin.

This is due mostly to habitat loss, hunting, and the pet trade,[13] however the species has been observed to be able to survive in fragmented and sparse areas of canopy.