A debate on the co-existence of chimpanzees and humans will take place in Birchington later this month.

The Powell-Cotton Museum at Quex Park will host the talk with Dr. Tatyana Humle, senior lecturer in primate conservation from the University of Kent.

Dr. Humle will be focusing on the endangered West African subspecies of chimpanzee and the challenges they face.

She said: “Much of my research centres on understanding how human and chimpanzee behaviour influences their ability to share the same landscape and on assessing the main challenges to people’s tolerance towards wildlife.

“Such work could help shape sustainable land use management and economic development on both a local and national scale, concurrent with an agenda of co-existence rather than one risking fuelling intolerance and conflict.

“Unfortunately, the challenge is great; the number of chimpanzee orphans coming into rehabilitation centres such as the Tacugama chimpanzee Sanctuary in Sierra Leone and the Chimpanzee Conservation Center in Guinea have increased in recent years.

“This situation does raise major concerns about law enforcement and governance and also elicits a necessary debate into the links between species conservation and the welfare of rescued individuals”.

Key themes will include; can people and chimpanzees co-exist, is chimpanzee conservation compatible with development and what are the links between the conservation wild populations and centres rescuing orphans individuals?

The museum’s conservation and outreach officer Manny Mvula said: “Our conservation heroes series is always really popular, and it’s important for the museum to carry on Powell-Cotton’s conservation agenda.

“We preserved the past so we could understand the future, and we want to ensure we protect the present to ensure the future of our planet.

“We’re delighted to welcome Dr. Tatyana Humle to speak at our first event of the year, and we’re really excited about the debate she’s going to bring.

“It’s an important issue which affects us all, without us realising it”.

The talk takes place at the museum on Thursday, March 17 at 7pm.

Tickets cost £4 and are free for members.

To book contact 01843 842168 or enquiries@quexmuseum.org