Blog Offers Inside Look at Anthropology and Chimpanzees

Posted on March 23, 2006

The Harvard Gazette reports on a blog by anthropologist Ian Gilby that offers readers an inside look at the life of an anthropologist in the field. The blog covers a month Gilby spent in Kibale National Park, Uganda studying the behavior of the chimpanzees from the Kanyawara community.

The blog was the brainchild of Alex Georgiev, a graduate student in anthropology who was working with Gilby last fall to update the Kibale Chimpanzee Project's Web site. Georgiev argued that the Web site ought to have changing features that bring people back again. The blog was one way to do that, Gilby said. Web site statistics through March 9 show that the site has been viewed some 2,800 times.

Gilby says, "It's important for chimpanzee conservation, even though that's not the primary goal of our research. If a reader suddenly feels like they made a connection, maybe that's one more reason for them to give money to an organization that protects chimpanzees."

The blog includes vivid photographs and detailed accounts about daily events in the Kibale forest and the activities of the chimpanzees. After you finish reading Gilby's blog, which ended with his trip in February, there is still more to read because the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University has set up another blog. A new chimp blog has been set up for graduate student Zarin Machanda, who is conducting research in the Budongo Forest Reserve for the next 13 months.