Human influence scale
(modified from Bishop et al. 1981)
- Home Range
- Undisturbed habitat - no human habitation (other than research camp) or
economic activities; no livestock or dogs within 5km of group's range.
- Disturbed 1 - moderate exploitation of habitat (e.g., limited woodcutting,
fodder cutting, some livestock present) immediately surrounding study area;
edge effect
- Disturbed 2 - similar exploitation to Disturbed 1 but extends throughout
study area
- Mosaic habitat - home range includes both human-made (i.e., fields,
cleared areas) and Disturbed 1 or 2 habitat
- Harassment
- Undisturbed - contact between humans and apes rare (likely to see
humans less than once/month)
- Contact - apes likely to see humans occasionally (e.g. about 1/week)
- Minimal harassment - apes are chased or harassed only when they enter
fields to raid crops
- Occasion-specific harassment - apes are harassed when they steal food
and when they enter areas of human habitation
- Hunted
- Never hunted as best as can be determined
- Rare or episodic hunting (includes revenge killings by local people
unhappy about research or park policy; fewer than 5/decade)
- Hunting part of local tradition in or near study area
- Habituation
- Unafraid - apes show curiosity, not fear, when first contacted; appear
never to have seen humans before
- Wild - apes flee when humans appear
- Semi-habituated - apes move away if humans actually approach
- Habituated - apes are accustomed to human presence, although they may
not tolerate approach
- Predators
- Full complement of predators - large cats and other predators protected
(or at near-natural populations)
- Partial complement of predators - predators are represented by a few
individuals of some species, but number are diminished due to hunting or
habitat destruction
- Impoverished complement - most major predators eliminated; village
dogs may harass primates
- No predators - neither feral predators nor dogs present a threat to apes