The Tonkin Snub-Nosed Monkey Could Once Be Found In Two Small Areas. Sorry, Make That One Small Area.

[hatrack]

Conservationists searching for Vietnam’s critically endangered Tonkin snub-nosed monkey, one of the world’s most threatened primates, have found no sign of the species in one of the two forest patches where it was thought to remain. This is cause for “great concern,” say conservationists from Fauna & Flora’s Vietnam program in a recent paper in the journal Oryx. Until recently, the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus avunculus) was known to only inhabit Quan Ba Forest and Khau Ca Species and Habitat Conservation Area, within the larger Du Gia National Park. In Quan Ba, the species was last seen in 2020.

Anecdotal evidence from local communities suggest it may have clung on, but a 32-person survey team that traveled a combined 731 kilometers (454 miles) over five days in April failed to find any signs of the species. “We did not see the monkeys this year,” says Lam Van Hoang, director of Fauna & Flora’s Vietnam office, which led the survey. That doesn’t mean they’ve gone locally extinct, or extirpated, he says, noting it’s possible that a population of 20 individuals or fewer could remain undetected in the forest. “We need to apply more conservation technology, maybe using thermal drones or more human efforts, in order to have more accurate data of the population.”

Agricultural expansion, widespread deforestation, and hunting for meat and body parts for use in traditional medicine has driven the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey to the brink of extinction. The pressure of cardamom farming in and around Quan Ba Forest is particularly intense. There’s scant data on the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey elsewhere in Vietnam, and the species isn’t part of any captive-breeding program or known to be held in zoos.

EDIT


A Tonkin snub-nosed monkey with its young. Maintaining and extending the Khau Ca protected area is vitally important for the survival of the species. Image courtesy of Oliver Wearn/Fauna & Flora.

EDIT

The “terrible news” from Quan Ba was somewhat predictable given the intensity of these pressures on the tiny population, says Luu Tuong Bach, Tonkin snub-nosed monkey project manager at Conservation Impact, who was not involved in the recent survey. “In my opinion, the biggest problem to this subpopulation is habitat loss by unsolvable extended cardamom cultivation, and this problem will affect not only [the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey] but also the wildlife in the area,” Bach says. Though the Fauna & Flora team still have hope that the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey somehow persists in Quan Ba, it’s possible that the last remaining viable population now resides in Khau Ca. When discovered in 2002, estimates placed the Khau Ca population at around 50 individuals. Since then, that number has grown to more than 200, thanks to greater protection and community initiatives such as community-led monitoring and habitat protection, Hoang says, showing it can bounce back if given an opportunity.

EDIT

https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/tonkin-sub-nosed-monkeys-were-found-in-only-two-places-on-earth-now-its-one/

[wendyb-NC]

1. That is awful news

Species decline due to human impacts on habitat is as always, is tragic, and an outrage. I hope that continued efforts are part of the future plans, for the population in Khau Ca, and the other population, in Kwan Ba, is found and conservation measures can increase their numbers, and ensure the species survival. Commercial agriculture is usually blind to the struggles of endangered animal's. I hope the story changes and conservation efforts are increased.

[pansypoo53219]

2. too many humans.