Teacher to help study monkeys in Costa Rica BY VINCENT TODARO Staff Writer EAST BRUNSWICK - A two-week expedition in Costa Rica next month will have special meaning for Donna Hamer. Hamer, who teaches physical education at Hammarskjold Middle School and Churchill Junior High School, was recently awarded an Earthwatch Fellowship Award from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation to study monkeys in the Central American nation. And as meaningful as the trip will be on a scientific level, the trip will also have some emotional significance. As fate would have it, Costa Rica is home to the 9-year-old boy whom Hamer sponsors, and the trip will provide the first opportunity for the two to meet, once the study portion is complete. Through the fellowship award, Hamer will be part of a team studying the impact of increased human contact on troops of mantled howler monkeys and white-faced capuchin monkeys in the western part of the country. Hamer and the other five team members will study monkeys in the lowlands, where monkeys have had more contact with humans, as well as in the northern highlands. The monkeys in the lowlands are on a working farm and are viewed by tourists, interacting daily with humans, Hamer said. The monkeys in the highlands do not come into nearly as much contact with humans because of their location in the forests and mountains. Hamer, whose work is part of her Ph.D. thesis for Ohio State University, said it is reasonable to assume that the monkeys with more human contact have different dietary and travel patterns, among other things, than their northern neighbors. "Monkeys are genetically close to humans, so it will be interesting to see how they adapt to a human presence," she said. "We're looking at the differences between disturbed and undisturbed monkey populations." The contact with humans could, for example, mean the monkeys are less aggressive and more flexible, Hamer said. This would result from the fact that the monkeys have an easier time gathering food when humans are around. The more readily accessible food could make them less competitive, as well. "We're collecting behavioral data," she said. It is hoped that the data generated from the Earthwatch expedition will be useful to people throughout the world as they try to keep habitats as natural as possible. She said humans have a certain notion of monkeys as being huggable and taking food. "Humans are really forcing themselves on monkeys," she said. Hamer said that for years her supervisor has recommended applying for an award because of her interest in the outdoors. She applied in February and was notified of her selection a month later. She said the adventure really began as soon as she filled out the application, because the foundation picks the destination. She had some leverage because the foundation does ask applicants for information on phobias, health problems and other issues that help determine where the person is sent. "You figure they will try to pick a place that is compatible," Hamer said. Their choice of Costa Rica came as a thrill to Hamer. After two weeks of study, she will have six days to travel and visit her sponsor child, who lives in poverty and whom Hamer has assisted for two years through World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization that works to help children, families and their communities worldwide by addressing the causes of poverty and injustice.