In the 1980s, she spent five years trekking around the coral rocks of Kenting, observing a local troupe of macaques. During that time their numbers gradually increased, but then suddenly almost the entire troupe was killed by hunters, and the population growth accumulated over many years was wiped out overnight. By the time Wu had finished writing up her thesis, the few survivors had disappeared among the windswept coral.
一九八○年代，她來回於墾丁高位珊瑚礁上，觀察一獼猴家族長達五年，期間猴子族群增加緩慢，好不容易累積一點後代子孫，在毫無預警下，猴群竟在一夕間遭獵人幾乎盡數打光，吳海音論文出爐前，這一獼猴家庭已死的死，散的散，消失於墾丁落山風呼嘯的珊瑚礁之間。