There is no doubt, as my colleague Duane Quiatt has often pointed out to me, that the
presence of human observers has some kind of effect on wild chimpanzees, but this is
not often studied. Bethell (1998) did so, and found that females and males had different
strategies for coping with observer presence. Males tolerated closer human proximity,
and had higher levels of vigilance towards humans than did females, who nearly always
kept a greater distance from observers but directed less vigilance towards them. Duane,
the alpha male, though easy to approach on the ground and very tolerant of human pres-
ence, paid more attention to observers than did other males. Juveniles paid more atten-
tion to observers than did subadults, who in turn paid more attention than adults,
indicating that familiarity with humans led to a loss of interest in them.
There is a different, and much longer term, danger associated with habituation. Once
a group of wild animals has lost its fear of human beings it is at risk from unscrupulous
people who want to collect specimens, sell babies as pets or to circuses, and these days
even eat the apes. The whole basis of the BFP has been, from the outset, to protect these
chimpanzees from such people. When we started in 1990, mothers were being shot and
their babies taken to Entebbe for sale. Since that time they have been largely safe, at
least in the area where we have been working. In neighbouring Congo, however, they
are not at all safe. Not only do the tribes of the Congo eat ape meat (as do many of the
peoples who live in and around the great Congo forest from the border of Uganda right
across Central and West Africa) but they continue to shoot mothers and sell the offspring
to traders, or indeed anyone who is willing to buy a young chimpanzee. We know this
because of the constant trickle of infant chimpanzees from the Congo, confiscated in
Uganda, which find their way these days to the wonderful sanctuary set up by the JGI at
Ngamba Island in L. Victoria. Even as I write, a new baby has arrived at Ngamba. This
is a trade that is repugnant to us in the west, but is commonplace in many African coun-
tries where attitudes to animals, including chimpanzees, are very different from ours.
So, returning to our theme, habituation is dangerous. Often when I stand among a group
of chimpanzees of our Sonso community and delight in their lively independence of us
humans in their midst, I fear for their lives if we should ever leave them to the forces of
the marketplace.
In 2002 we introduced a rule that no more than four researchers may be involved in
observing our chimpanzees in the forest at any one time. We made this rule to avoid
harassing them and causing them to become either aggressive towards us (this has
happened at some other sites, especially in relation to the dominant male), or unduly
bothered by our presence as can happen in the case of some of the more naturally timid
members of the community.
Data
BFP has a number of large chimpanzee data files on its computer. One pertains to party
composition, one to social behaviour. Researchers have their own files. The amount of
stored data is therefore very great. We have data for less than 15 years but there is still
too much for any single person to analyse. Even finding all the data, dispersed over
Data 27