Ecotourism and primate habituation: Behavioral variation in two groups of white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus) from Costa Rica

The increase of ecotourism operations within Costa Rica during the last 20yrs has brought more and more humans into close, direct contact with several wildlife species. One of these species is the white-faced capuchin (Cebus capucinus), highly gregarious, and with exposure over time, willing to come...

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Autor principal:	Webb, Shasta E.
Formato:	Online
Idioma:	spa
Publicado:	Universidad de Costa Rica 2014
Acceso en línea:	https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/rbt/article/view/14064

id	RBT14064
record_format	ojs
spelling	RBT140642022-06-09T17:28:45Z Ecotourism and primate habituation: Behavioral variation in two groups of white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus) from Costa Rica Webb, Shasta E. Cebus capucinus Costa Rica ecotourism habituation over-habituation white-faced capuchin The increase of ecotourism operations within Costa Rica during the last 20yrs has brought more and more humans into close, direct contact with several wildlife species. One of these species is the white-faced capuchin (Cebus capucinus), highly gregarious, and with exposure over time, willing to come into close vicinity of humans and their developments. Such contact has its advantages and disadvantages for the ecotourism industry. We observed white-faced monkeys in order to assess the impact of human presence and development on monkey behavior, with a focus on aggressive, affiliative, and foraging behaviors in Curú Wildlife Refuge (CWR), located in Puntarenas, Costa Rica, and to ascertain the degree of over-habituation of capuchin populations at CWR. Though there exist no discrete behavioral parameters that measure over-habituation, it can be defined as an extreme state of habituation in which non-human primates not only lose fear of humans, but also actively include humans in social interactions or treat them as a food resource. We used instantaneous focal animal and group scan sampling during 8wks in March and April 2012. Two groups (approximately 20-30 individuals each) of capuchins were observed; the first near the tourist development at the Southwestern area of CWR, representing a habituated population that regularly foraged, rested, and groomed in the presence of humans. The second, was observed in the Northeastern area of CWR, did not visit the center of human activity and exhibited fear of humans. The habituated group exhibited significantly fewer instances of threatened behavior in response to human presence (p<0.0001) than the non-habituated group, and spent significantly more time eating and foraging (p<0.0001). While the habituated monkeys at CWR may not be over-habituated, they could become that way as development, especially ecotourism, increases. Over-habituation is a problem that affects capuchins in certain ecotourism sites in Costa Rica. It is critical that the consequences of habituation be studied more carefully, primarily in areas where ecotourism operations draw visitors to wildlife habitats. Shasta E. Webb1 & Michael B. McCoy2 1Macalester College, 1600 Grand Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105-1899; webbshasta@gmail.com2Associated Colleges of the Midwest, Costa Rican Office, San Pedro de Montes e Oca, Costa Rica; mmccoycolton@yahoo.com Universidad de Costa Rica 2014-09-01 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion application/pdf text/html https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/rbt/article/view/14064 10.15517/rbt.v62i3.14064 Revista de Biología Tropical; Vol. 62 No. 3 (2014): Volume 62 – Regular number 3 – September 2014; 909–918 Revista de Biología Tropical; Vol. 62 Núm. 3 (2014): Volumen 62 – Número regular 3 – Setiembre 2014; 909–918 Revista Biología Tropical; Vol. 62 N.º 3 (2014): Volume 62 – Regular number 3 – September 2014; 909–918 2215-2075 0034-7744 10.15517/rbt.v62i3 spa https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/rbt/article/view/14064/14690 https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/rbt/article/view/14064/14756 Copyright (c) 2014 Revista de Biología Tropical http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
institution	Universidad de Costa Rica
collection	Revista de Biología Tropical
language	spa
format	Online
author	Webb, Shasta E.
spellingShingle	Webb, Shasta E. Ecotourism and primate habituation: Behavioral variation in two groups of white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus) from Costa Rica
author_facet	Webb, Shasta E.
author_sort	Webb, Shasta E.
description	The increase of ecotourism operations within Costa Rica during the last 20yrs has brought more and more humans into close, direct contact with several wildlife species. One of these species is the white-faced capuchin (Cebus capucinus), highly gregarious, and with exposure over time, willing to come into close vicinity of humans and their developments. Such contact has its advantages and disadvantages for the ecotourism industry. We observed white-faced monkeys in order to assess the impact of human presence and development on monkey behavior, with a focus on aggressive, affiliative, and foraging behaviors in Curú Wildlife Refuge (CWR), located in Puntarenas, Costa Rica, and to ascertain the degree of over-habituation of capuchin populations at CWR. Though there exist no discrete behavioral parameters that measure over-habituation, it can be defined as an extreme state of habituation in which non-human primates not only lose fear of humans, but also actively include humans in social interactions or treat them as a food resource. We used instantaneous focal animal and group scan sampling during 8wks in March and April 2012. Two groups (approximately 20-30 individuals each) of capuchins were observed; the first near the tourist development at the Southwestern area of CWR, representing a habituated population that regularly foraged, rested, and groomed in the presence of humans. The second, was observed in the Northeastern area of CWR, did not visit the center of human activity and exhibited fear of humans. The habituated group exhibited significantly fewer instances of threatened behavior in response to human presence (p<0.0001) than the non-habituated group, and spent significantly more time eating and foraging (p<0.0001). While the habituated monkeys at CWR may not be over-habituated, they could become that way as development, especially ecotourism, increases. Over-habituation is a problem that affects capuchins in certain ecotourism sites in Costa Rica. It is critical that the consequences of habituation be studied more carefully, primarily in areas where ecotourism operations draw visitors to wildlife habitats. Shasta E. Webb1 & Michael B. McCoy2 1Macalester College, 1600 Grand Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105-1899; webbshasta@gmail.com2Associated Colleges of the Midwest, Costa Rican Office, San Pedro de Montes e Oca, Costa Rica; mmccoycolton@yahoo.com
title	Ecotourism and primate habituation: Behavioral variation in two groups of white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus) from Costa Rica
title_short	Ecotourism and primate habituation: Behavioral variation in two groups of white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus) from Costa Rica
title_full	Ecotourism and primate habituation: Behavioral variation in two groups of white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus) from Costa Rica
title_fullStr	Ecotourism and primate habituation: Behavioral variation in two groups of white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus) from Costa Rica
title_full_unstemmed	Ecotourism and primate habituation: Behavioral variation in two groups of white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus) from Costa Rica
title_sort	ecotourism and primate habituation: behavioral variation in two groups of white-faced capuchins (cebus capucinus) from costa rica
publisher	Universidad de Costa Rica
publishDate	2014
url	https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/rbt/article/view/14064
work_keys_str_mv	AT webbshastae ecotourismandprimatehabituationbehavioralvariationintwogroupsofwhitefacedcapuchinscebuscapucinusfromcostarica
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Ecotourism and primate habituation: Behavioral variation in two groups of white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus) from Costa Rica

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