Howler monkeys in Nicaragua need help now. Following smaller howler monkey events in Ecuador and Panama, there have been 75 mysterious deaths in the small Central American country (70 of them since mid-January).
Researchers from the University of Michigan are trying to discover why, and they have four leading hypotheses:
1. Drought or another environmental stressor creating less access to food or water
2. Poisonous plants that the monkeys are consuming
3. Pesticides or other environmental contaminants
4. A pathogen (e.g. yellow fever or Zika)
But we won’t know for sure until the researchers study the samples. Unfortunately, they’re experiencing “regulatory hurdles,” says Science Daily.
As fruit eaters of the forest, howler monkeys help maintain the health of Nicaragua's forests by dispersing seeds. Even though the howler monkeys aren't endangered, "Large howler monkey die-offs could result in local population extinctions, which would impact the tropical dry forests where the primates live," explains researcher Liliana Cortés-Ortiz in Science Daily.
Similar to how howler monkeys infamously send messages to other troops through their very loud and cacophonic cries, these 75 unusual deaths in Nicaragua are also sending a clear message that something's not right -- it's a cry for help. Sign and share this petition urging Nicaragua to cooperate with researchers and to solve the mystery of these howler monkey deaths.
Photo Credit: Angela N.
