Habituation specifically refers to the process of getting animals familiar with people. It is the key to observing and researching primates in the wild.

Animals in the Tofala Hill Wildlife Sanctuary are gradually being habituated to humans. According to a recent video footage from the sanctuary, Chimps have started showing behavioural change to things they hitherto ran away from.

Two years back chimpanzees were seen running away from the cameras, hiding their faces with leaves and throwing stones at the cameras. Recently in the last videos, chimpanzees are seen playing and touching the cameras.

Most wild animals fear people for obvious reasons; – humans are the most dangerous creatures on the planet. However, there’s little we can learn about the behaviours of wild animals if we only see them running away.

In Savannah Parks, where animals have become habituated to cars, you can sit in a Land Rover and watch animals at closer quarters. But in forests, if you want to study primates, you must go to their “hang-outs.”

Habituating them to your presence becomes necessary. This will increase research and give opportunity for researcher to come carryout research in the area. Volunteering activities especially on chimpanzees trekking will be very interesting and will increase the chances of taking great photos of the animals.

This activity will also be important for distinguishing changes in the environment. Therefore, habituating chimpanzees with the use of camera traps and food provision will be a better conservation measure for Tofala Apes and other primates.

Gwendoline Angwa