Chimpanzee Bushmeat and its Effects on The Ecology - Literature review Example

Chimpanzee bush meat and its effects on the ecology Introduction Chimpanzees are two ape species ified under the Pangenus. The first species, the common chimpanzee is classified under the pan troglodytes group, and is found in Central and West Africa. The bonobo species is classed under the Pan Paniscus category, and are mostly found along the forests of Congo. Chimpanzees share the Hominidae family, together with humans, gorillas, and orang-utans (Tomkins 12). The chimpanzees are believed to have split from the family about five million years ago, and are the closest relatives of humans. The similarities between humans and chimpanzees include their DNA; they share 95 percent or more, of the same DNA composition (Tomkins 12). The second similarity between chimpanzees and humans is that the sociability of the two species is very similar. Chimpanzees spend much time grooming one another and young chimpanzees will play, chase and tickle one another; these behaviours are the same with humans and their children (Peoples and Bailey 6). The use of language and facial expressions is another similarity between humans and chimpanzees. Chimpanzees communicate verbally through grunting, hooting, panting, and screaming among other vocalizations, and humans – due to their complex vocal chords – rely on vocalization to communicate many of their messages. In a similar manner chimpanzees and humans use facial expressions and gestures when communicating with one another (Peoples and Bailey 6); Chimpanzees can express pleading, surprise, comforting and grinning. Both humans and chimpanzees can walk upright, although chimpanzees do it when they need to see further. The evidence of the similarity between humans and chimpanzees has shown that chimpanzees are an important species to the future of humans, taking into account that they play an important ecological role, they share many characteristics with humans and they can improve the understanding of humans. Bush meat hunting is a major threat to the future of chimpanzees, because it is threatening to cause the extinction of chimpanzees. The evidence of the effects of bush meat hunting include that it has led to the reduction in chimpanzee populations, it leads to the loss of forest cover and biodiversity and the destabilization of the ecological system. The solutions to the pending problem include initiation of a hybrid sponsored projects, increasing mini-livestock keeping, and the conservation of their habitats. Firstly, the conservation of chimpanzees is important, because scientists have found that there are unquestionable similarities between humans and them, including that they can create tools and have group cultures (Goodall 1). From an ecological point of view, the conservation of chimpanzees is very important, because they play a dominant role as dispersers of tree and plant seeds, which is very important to the diversity of plant and tree species. Chimpanzees are a model species, and studying their role within the ecosystem enables humans to understanding other factors related to conservation in a better way (Lonsdorf, Ross and Matsuzawa 164). For example, Jane Goodall, through her work, found that chimpanzees hunt animals for meat; they possess distinct personalities, emotions and minds, and are known to support family relationships (Goodall, 2). In a manner similar to that of humans, she found that they have group cultures, they can adopt orphaned ones and they engage in warfare (Goodall, 2).The huge similarity between chimpanzees and humans shows that they can help to illuminate the research about humans, and also improve human understanding of the working of the ecological system and also the animal world. Sharp and Hahn pointed out another use of chimpanzees, which can be very important to the future of humans; chimpanzees can be useful to the research related to HIV and AIDS, noting that they have been known to get infected with human viruses, and are believed to be the source of HIV-1 (2). The relationship between AIDS research and chimpanzees shows that the pandemic of HIV/AIDS can be addressed using them for research and epidemiological studies (Sharp and Hahn 2). The conservation of chimpanzees is important, because understanding their species and the roles they play in the ecosystem will help humans to understand more about the issues related to the conservation of species in general (Goodall 1). Through the conservation of chimpanzees, ecosystems and the variety of life forms in society will be preserved, and that will inform discussions and strategic plans related to the maintenance of biodiversity from threats like global warming and drought. The conservation of chimpanzees is important to humans because they have been found to use some plants for medicinal purposes, and that can help the scientists researching for new medicines. Chimpanzees are predominantly scavengers, eating fruits in their forest habitats, and that makes them one of the important players needed to facilitate the spread of fruit crops from one place to another, and facilitating the pollination of different plant and fruit species. More importantly, the chimpanzees are able to disperse tree and plants, after eating their fruits or seeds or by carrying them; they are one of the most important agents of ecological balancing. Bush meat is the meat of wild animals; wild animals are hunted in Asia and Africa. The name was used to refer to the meat of the animals hunted in central and West Africa, but the term has been expanded to cover the meat hunted in more countries (Jane Goodall institute). More recently, the term has been used to refer to the meat hunted from the endangered species found in a variety of habitats, especially that of the animals under the apes family. In other places like Trinidad and Tobago, bush meat is called wild meat (Bowen-Jones and Pendry 234). Due to the increasing threat of the hunting of endangered species, a variety of organizations have formed cooperation and created a Bush meat crisis task force, with the aim of formulating government and professionally informed plans aimed at countering the bush meat crisis in Africa and other places (Bowen-Jones and Pendry 234). Bush meat hunting started during the traditional era, when many parts of Africa, Asia and the Americas were covered by forests, and agriculture was not practiced as the main source of sustenance for communities. In search of food – also due to the wide availability of wild animals – these communities started hunting wild animals for meat, to substitute the food gathered from plants, that cultivated from agriculture and the meat of domesticated animals (Bowen-Jones and Pendry 233). In other traditional communities, hunter gatherer lifestyles compelled people to hunt wild animals, because bush meat offered a substitute to the food gathered from forest trees and plants. The first effect of bush meat hunting on the environment include that it has led to the reduction in the number of animals found in different habitats. For example, despite the fact that the hunting of the apes is not highly favoured, they are targeted due to their large size, they hold the potential of huge returns for a one-time kill. Further, due to the small number of these big animals that are targeted by the bush meat hunting, their numbers are reduced considerably, and that has led to the destabilization of the ecobalance of their different habitats. Through the local or the global loss of biodiversity in the ecosystems that they occupied before, the financial diversity of the habitats is compromised in many intrinsic ways (Roldán and Simonetti 617). For example, through the increased hunting of apes, which is likely to lead to the extinction of the apes’ species, the roles they played in facilitating pollination and the spreading of seeds in forests will be hampered, and that will affect their productivity. The hunting of bush-meat affects the plant-animal interactions taking place within the habitats of the hunted animals leads to the loss of plant cover. Plant cover is lost in different ways, including that the movement of hunters in forests contributes to the loss of vegetation cover, and that in itself may lead to the loss of the given wild animals. Secondly, through the reduction of the animals living in the forest – a reduction in the trampling of seeds and the predation done for seeds are reduced in their respective habitats. The effects of this chain of events include that the diversity of the plant and tree species in the forests and other habitats reduces. In the long-term, the change in the diversity of the plant species available in the habitats of the different animals, there is a resultant change in the forest structure of and the food-chain dependence of the habitat (Roldán and Simonetti 618). The effects of the shift include that the habitats lose their potential to sustain the animals hunted, as well as others that depended on the balanced ecosystem. The first negative effects of hunting the chimpanzees for meat, which could lead to their extinction in a short time, is that their role as plant and tree seed dispersers is hampered, and that limits the spread of plant and tree species in forests and other ecosystems. The chimpanzees are very important in doing this role because they disperse the seeds to long distances, and across different ecosystems, after eating the seeds or by carrying them as spare food. Many of the plant and tree species distributed by chimpanzee are the ones used for the production of timber and non-timber products (Lonsdorf, Ross and Matsuzawa 164). The non-timber products that may no longer be in abundant supply, following the reduction of chimpanzees include nuts, fruits, spices, leafs and medicines. The reduction of chimpanzees is likely to lead to the reduction of the water supplies available in different areas, in the long-term – taking into account that plant cover is important for the conservation of water sources, and chimpanzees are primary dispersers of plant and tree species. The effects felt by humans include that, the availability of water resources reduce, the cycles of precipitation are altered, and the availability to sustain livelihood through agriculture is affected negatively. The alternatives and the solutions to the bush meat crisis include the initiation of a hybrid model of community-based and government sponsored projects, mainly those aimed at improving the wild life management of the animals that are targeted by bush meat hunters (Anderson 315). Some of the approaches that can be used to address this problem include hunting tourism and game ranching, which will entail the development of plans and systems for the protection of the wild animals found at different habitats and local areas (Jane Goodall institute). For example, through the institution of such a program in Congo, the community and the government will be involved and committed to the preservation and the conservation of chimpanzees. This solution has been implemented and proved to work, by the Jane Goodall Institute of Canadas, which has instituted a variety of community-centred conservation projects at Uganda, DRC, and Tanzania (Jane Goodall Institute). The second solution to the bush meat crisis is that of increasing the scale of mini-livestock keeping and providing education to local residents. This solution will entail the creation of livestock conservation centres, where animals like chimpanzees can be kept safe from hunters (Anderson 315). At these government and community sponsored centres, the finances raised through tourism and government funding can be used to promote and to foster the success of the projects (Lonsdorf, Ross and Matsuzawa 164). The third solution is the maintenance of the habitats needed by these animals, by reducing the harvesting of timber and plant products. For example, this solution will promote the raising of bees, and leaves, which will facilitate the protection of the habitats (Jane Goodall institute). Conclusion Through this essay, the author presented information about bush meat hunting and the effects of this practice on the numbers of chimpanzees, as well as the environmental impacts of the hunting. The similarities between humans and chimpanzees include that their DNA are almost 95 percent similar, language and facial expression use is universal, the socialization of both species is similar, and both can walk on two feet. The hunting of chimpanzees for bush meat has affected the food chain negatively, through destabilising the plant seeds dispersal done by chimpanzees. Bush meat hunting should be completely stopped, because it will lead to the extinction of different species, including chimpanzees, and the extinction will affect the ecological balance of the earth negatively. The solutions that can help address the problem of bush meat hunting include the institution of a hybrid chimpanzee conservation program run by the government and communities, keeping chimpanzees in conservancies and educating residents, as well as the maintenance of habitats through discouraging the exploitation of non-timber products. Works Cited Anderson, Will. This Is Hope: Green Vegans and the New Human Ecology. Croydon: CPI Group Ltd, 2013. Print. Bowen-Jones, Evan, and Pendry, Stephanie. “The Threats to Primates and Other Mammals from the Bush meat Trade in Africa and How This Could Be Diminished.” Oryx, 33.3 (1999): 233-247. Goodall, Jane. The Jane Goodall institute, 2010. Web. 21 may. 2014. Jane Goodall institute. Conservation & Threats: Bush meat Crisis. Jane Goodall Institute of Canada, 2014. Web. 19 May. 2014. Lonsdorf, Elizabeth, Ross, Stephen, and Matsuzawa, Tetsuro. The Mind of the Chimpanzee: Ecological and Experimental Perspectives. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Print. Peoples, James, and Bailey, Garrick. Cengage Advantage Books: Humanity: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2009. Print. Roldán, Aalejandra, and Simonetti, Javier. Plant-Mammal Interactions in Tropical Bolivian Forests with Different Hunting Pressures. Conservation Biology, 15 (2001):617–623. Sharp, Paul, and Hahn, Beatrice. Origins of HIV and the AIDS Pandemic. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med, (2011). Web. 19 May. 2014. Tomkins, Jeffrey. “Human-Chimp Similarities: Common Ancestry or Flawed Research?” Acts & Facts. 38.6 (2009): 12. Read More