Avoiding direct contact with wildlife is particularly important when nonhuman primates are involved.  Due to our genetic similarities, it can be easy to pass diseases among us.  Personally, I adhere to the 10 m rule(Pruetz, personal communication) - I don´t approach closer than this distance to primates and if they come within this zone I back away from them as long as it doesn't disturb them in the process. The prevention of disease transmission is currently a hot topic in primatology and the potential for transmission seems to vary by species. For example, it's probably easier to transmit pathogens to our closest living relatives, chimpanzees, than capuchin monkeys.  However, until we have a better understanding of the risks we pose on them and vice versa, it's best to follow a conservative protocol.

(the picutre is of a "Mono de Noche" on the monkey bridge in front of Hotel MiraFlores Lodge in Playa Chiquita)

We'd like to get a more involved campaign against molesting the wildlife going. This includes not feeding the animals here. This is important in particular because we'd like to prevent or limit common wildlife problems from occurring here, such as provisioned and over-habituated monkeys.  For example, the monkeys of Manuel Antonio National Park are known to jump on people's backs and rumage through their bags to steal food. I'm not aware of any biting incidents, but there's definitely potential, which is a major hazard for the uninformed and unlucky visitor - aside from the other hazards of feeding animals food products not occurring in their natural diet.  A proper campaign would include posting signs, perhaps on the beach, as well as distributing other information that is easily available to tourists about the hazards of feeding the wildlife.

I'm working with Christina Orr at her new nursery, Vivero, in Playa Chiquita.  We're building a collection of primate feeder trees to be featured at the nursery where all proceeds are donated to the Monkey Bridge Project.  We can freely use some of the project's trees in the reforestation project as well.

The Biological Corridor is a local NGO in Hone Creek which also has a greenhouse which sells native trees which benefit ecology and wildlife.