Monkey Bridges: Where They Are and How They Function

By Jenny Thelan, Volunteer and Pre-Vet Student at Iowa State

 Have you ever seen the blue ropes hanging around Manuel Antonio and Quepos? Those aren’t just any ropes, those are known as monkey bridges, and they’re very important for the conservation for all the monkeys in the area. The monkey bridges hanging way up in the trees over the road help provide safe paths for monkeys (and other animals) to travel safely over the roads. This helps prevent numerous vehicle accidents where monkeys are hit by cars, and also helps prevent the monkeys from using electrical wires and getting electrocuted. 

In the month of June of this year, we at KSTR have traveled all over the local area with a GPS device in order to get the exact points of the monkey bridges and landmarks near the bridges. With these coordinates, we can put all of the monkey bridges on a map so we know exactly where they are, if one needs to be repaired, or if one simply isn’t in a sufficient place. To figure out if the bridges continued to be in the places that would help the monkeys the greatest, our volunteers went out in the town to survey the locals. 

The survey consisted of many different questions, such as if they had seen animals using the bridges or not. If animals had been using the bridges, we also asked what specific species was using each of the bridges. We also asked if they had ever seen an electrocuted animal or one that had been hit by a car. After getting all the data, we put it all together to see if the bridges were in the best places to be used to their highest potential. It helped us realize if there were places in Manuel Antonio and Quepos that either needed another monkey bridge or one that didn’t need one at all because of new construction or changes since they were put up. 

Kids Saving the Rainforest is hoping that with this information we can make a bigger difference with the number of animals’ lives that can be saved. This information is vital in order to preserve the rainforest. We are hoping to do these surveys every few months so that we can accurately place the monkey bridges wherever they are needed.

 If you want to adopt a monkey bridge or support Kids Saving The Rainforest, please visit the Souvenir Store, located adjacent to the Hotel Mono Azul Rainforest Restaurant.  100% of the proceeds go to save the rainforest.  Open daily from 7 AM until 10 PM.