Presence of Scientific and Conservation Researchers Leads To Reduced Poaching

A project by the Max Planck institute for evolutionary anthropology has studied the impacts of researchers in Tai National Park in Ivory Coast. Three over-harvested species, the red colobus monkey, the diana monkey and Maxwell’s duiker were studied. The results were striking — high densities of red colobus monkey’s could be seen within long-term study sites, but no signs of poaching were found within or in a band of habitat around the site. The same results were obtained by statistical analysis, which showed that all numbers of all three species increased with proximity to the study site, while signs of poaching visibly decreased. Thus the presence of long-term researchers may help turn the study sites into refugia for local species.