Page 20 - Local Voices, Local Choices Excerpt

18 local voices, local choices
to exercise great power to rule and fight other males, but now, life for the current high-ranking chimps is very easy. Even so, some social behaviors are very different or more common compared to what I saw in my earlier years. For example, the alpha male ruler deciding to kill an infant chim- panzee. We are always learning something new because they are constantly changing their behavior.”
Gabo notes that it’s because of the chimps that the Gombe area was granted protected status in 1968. These days, he says, the people around the park understand its value much more than in the past. Previously, they were entering the park for what he calls “illegal activities,” but as their awareness of the forest’s importance has increased, their attitudes and practices have shifted too. He attributes this cultural shift to JGI’s collab- oration with TANAPA, on the one hand, and with the villages around the National Park, on the other. “Today,” he says, “people even strive to pro- vide information or inform JGI when they discover that an illegal activity is being committed.”
Field researchers like Gabo also provide security, he points out, “because we spend a lot of our time, up to 20 hours a day, in the wild.
Poachers know we’re moving through the forest, so our presence alone helps provide protection.” Even so, they do still see problems in the field, some of which are beyond their control. These incidents are reported to TANAPA rangers, who respond quickly. “For example, if we discover traps or illegal entries, we provide that information.”
All these levels of protection have shown to benefit the ecosystem and the overall health of Gombe. “Up until around five years ago,” notes Gabo, “some of the rivers outside the park on village lands were either dry or showing signs of drying up, because the hills had been left bare. Now, the hills have trees and the rivers have begun to look like they are com- ing back to life, though still not as they were in the past. My hope for the future is after I leave here and retire, I want to continue to provide educa- tion, especially to young people who are not yet aware of the importance of conservation—what it means to conserve the forests.”