|
 |
about the cover
Squirrel monkeys made up more than half the primates imported
to Mexico from Guyana between 2000 and 2005. Fortunately, in
January 2006, Mexico’s General Wildlife Act was modified to
ban the import and export of both primates and marine mammals
for exhibition purposes. The law is a conservation tool for
wild populations, but it will also pay off for captive
animals, as facilities must improve their welfare policies now
that the creatures are no longer replaceable (see story).
Meanwhile, squirrel monkeys are facing other threats. Dead
monkeys were recently discovered in Costa Rica’s Corcovado
National Park, and the cause of their demise was starvation.
The animals rely on a diet of fruit, insects, leaves and
stems, and global warming-induced climate change in the
rainforest has led to excessive rainfall that caused trees to
not bear fruit. This weather also made it difficult for the
monkeys to forage for food on the ground. If we do not take
drastic measures to reverse the problem, global warming will
have similarly devastating effects on animal populations
across the globe (see story).Full
AWI Quarterly as PDF |
