The role of research 221complaining about this incident, and it is to be hoped that some action has been taken to
prevent a recurrence.
At the meeting in April 2000 already referred to, we discussed the question of
attempting to relocate the Kasokwa chimpanzees (JGI has experience of relocating
chimpanzees) but this policy was not agreed by some members present who felt the
solution should be to find ways for people to co-exist harmoniously with the chim-
panzees. In fact, operationalizing this, even with a small group of chimpanzees living in
a 7 km, officially protected forest strip, has turned out to be a baffling problem. As more
and more chimpanzee habitat becomes degraded and fragmented all over Africa, we can
expect to see the Kasokwa picture repeated over and over again (Reynolds et al. 2003).
Indeed, there have been attacks by chimpanzees on humans at a number of other sites
(Gombe, Mahale and Kibale) and it is possible that in each case the cause has been
excessive (to chimpanzees, that is) interference by people in their lives. By contrast,
where, as at Sonso, Taï and some other sites, humans respect the chimpanzees, keep a
goodly distance from them, and move away when they come close, violence by chim-
panzees to humans has not (up to the time of writing) occurred, despite many years of
daily observations.
The role of research
We return to the question of research. I have heard it said that research is a waste of time
and money when species are endangered. This is almost never true.^89 Anything we can
learn about endangered species is of value. In a case like that of the Kasokwa chim-
panzees, where there is a real threat to their survival, research needs to be focused on
protecting the animals. As can be seen from the whole of this chapter, there is still much
we do not know about how to protect chimpanzees. But the focused research we have
done so far has been all important. Our research has provided baseline data on the
Kasokwa chimpanzees, incidents of trapping and attacks on humans that would other-
wise have passed unrecorded. It has documented the deterioration of relations between
humans and chimpanzees. Research will continue to be a vital part of efforts to protect
these chimpanzees, and wide dissemination of the findings from Kasokwa (e.g. Wallis
2002 b; Reynolds et al. 2003) will continue to be a primary aim.
I want to end, however, by mentioning a piece of research undertaken by an under-
graduate team at Kasokwa, and written up by the leader of the team, Ella Chase (Chase
2002). From discussions with Ella and other members of her team (Alice Hawkins,
Richard Gregory, Jonathan Shawyer) I am conscious of how acutely they were made
aware of the human–chimpanzee situation while they were living in the village of
Karujubu, not far from Richard Kyamanywa and George Otai.
This was an eight-week research project conducted in 2001 and results are based on
323 interviews conducted in five villages around Kasokwa. The sample constituted
6.3% of the population of those villages. Questions were asked about the forest in the
(^89) See Chapman and Peres (2001) for a clear exposition of the role of scientists in primate conservation.