Our goal is to advance knowledge on the behavior, ecology, demography, and life history of three primate species: capuchins (Cebus imitator), spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) and howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata).

Current research projects span the topics of Olfactory Communication, Sensory and Foraging Ecology, Effects of Forest Protection and Regeneration, Plasticity and Adaptation in the Gut Microbiome, and Male and Female Reproductive Strategies and Life-History Patterns.

Understanding the value of species and their habitats is central to their conservation. At the Santa Rosa Primate Conservation Fund, we are committed to teaching and sharing our knowledge and research on the importance of primates and the tropical dry forest through publications, presentations, workshops, and outreach events in Costa Rica, at the our co-directors’ universities in the United States and Canada, and to interested audiences throughout the world.

The Santa Rosa Primate Project is committed to the values of equity, diversity, and inclusion and to the advanced training of local team members from primate habitat countries.

Through an internship program run by our project co-directors and faculty at the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, we provide training opportunities to local Costa Rican post-secondary students in field primatology methods and experimental laboratory techniques.