Dr. Crickette Sanz, a native of Bow, Wash., earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology (magna cum laude) in 1997 and her masters degree in experimental psychology in 1999 from CWU, where she also served as an assistant at the university’s Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute (CHCI).
After she earned her PhD in anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, Sanz went to the remote location hundreds of miles away from the nearest African village in northern Republic of Congo to study chimpanzees in the wild, along with Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) field researcher David Morgan, the founder of the study site.
The WCS goal was to keep researchers out of the central African rain forests for as long as possible. But, when the pristine forests of the Goualougo Triangle and its chimpanzees were threatened by logging, Morgan was sent in to document the biological significance of the area.
Based on their experiences, Sanz and Morgan wrote an article that is published in the „International Journal of Primatology.“
„During our research, we never encountered any other humans or even their traces, such as villages, campsites or paths,“ Sanz says. „Because of low human density in the northern Congo and the remote location of the Goualougo Triangle, it’s unlikely that these chimpanzees had ever encountered humans.“
Typically, chimps in the wild need to be habituated to the presence of humans, which is a process that can take more than ten years. But, instead of running and hiding, these chimpanzees stared, crouched and moved closer to get a better view, slapped tree trunks or threw branches down to get a response and made inquisitive vocalizations. While conducting their on-going research, Sanz and Morgan minimize their presence in the forest as much as possible.
„Our camp is very basic and consists of only a few tents,“ Sanz notes. „We do not cut additional trails in the forests, but instead followed existing animal paths and only use pruning shears to cut back vegetation. And also, we have very strict protocols for observing the chimpanzees.“
After discovering this naive chimpanzee population and their trust in humans -- as well as having other naive contacts with other primate species like gorillas and monkeys that could also be vulnerable to poachers and logging -- Sanz says there is an obligation to ensure the long-term protection of this unique area.
These encounters with the chimpanzees now put the Goualougo Triangle at the top of the priority conservation projects in the Congo Basin, according to Morgan. More information about the WCS conservation work in central Africa is available at www.wcs-congo.org.
