Chimp & See Talk

Gorillas among the science team

  • Snorticus by Snorticus

    These folks are wearing surgical masks and taking notes so are they the science team? Can you talk about this and why the youngsters so blasé? Very interesting!

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  • vestigial by vestigial

    I assumed it was a habituated group that was monitored regularly. If you following Gorilla Doctors or Dian Fossey's group they post a lot of information about the groups they track and the check-ups the doctors do. This may not be a group tourists visit since the team is wearing surgical masks. Gorillas and humans share many of the same diseases, as do other great apes. In one of Jane Goodall's books she talks about people moving into the area around Gombe and the chimps getting polio.

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  • MimiA by MimiA scientist, moderator

    Hi, this isn't our team but another team that works in the park. It is now considered part of best practices to wear surgical masks when you get close to habituated apes, though not all sites have implemented it. I am pretty sure for the sites with good health monitoring programs and wihen apes have been found to be carrying human respiratory diseases, this is now the norm. I am also pretty sure tourists at habituated gorilla sites are now also required to wear masks but this definetly looks like a field team to me 😃

    The ideal end goal of habituation these days is to have apes not mind that you are there. Back in the day it was a bit more about having the apes accept researchers as one of the group which is why there are those amazing picture of Goodall and Fossey making contact with apes. In the "old days" researchers used to also provision (feed) the apes to get them used to humans, this is not done any more either. We now know that that type of habituation changes ape behaviour and puts both humans and apes at risk of injury and disease transmissions. PLus, not being scared of humans anymore puts them at higher risk of being poached and crop raiding from local villages which causes conflict. Best practices are to keep a 7m minimum distance at all times and not to react to anything the apes do. There is usually also no talking or very quiet talking while with the group, and the number of human observers at a time are kept to a minimum. With time (abut 5 years or more) the apes get use to the humans being around (we call this habituation to human presence) and that is how you end up with some blase apes 😃

    Of course, habituation is not without its controversy so its a very interesting and important topice (shall we create a hastag #habituated?) and it is a reason a lot of us advocate for finding new non invasive ways of studying wild apes that do not require habiatuation (like camera traps and non invasive genetic sampling); maybe not at all sites because the information at habituated sites is priceless, but certainly for new sites and moving forward (again, its controversial 😉 )

    For some more reading:

    and here is a good video of why drones may not be the way to go:

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