In southern Mexico, the deep and raspy roars of howler monkeys reverberate through the lush jungles enveloping the city of Comalcalco. The sound — akin to the rumble of distant thunder or the grumble of a large engine — usually crescendos around dawn and dusk, signaling to residents the beginning and end of each day.
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But those booming, guttural growls have grown fainter in recent weeks as at least 147 monkeys died amid excessive heat raging in the states of Tabasco and Chiapas, said local veterinarian Víctor Morato.
In Comalcalco, where temperatures have topped 113 degrees, residents have stumbled upon the corpses of monkeys “that dropped dead from the trees,” Morato said — sometimes, as many as 10 bodies at a time. Other primates that were found still clinging to life have been rushed to Morato’s animal hospital, where he immediately hooks them to IV drips with electrolytes.
“It’s the saddest thing to have them stretch out their little hands to you as if to say, ‘Please help me, I’m dying,’” Morato told The Washington Post. “And more heartbreaking yet is to think that we humans have
Over the past year, an ongoing and severe drought has parched most of Mexico, draining reservoirs and leaving parts of the country grappling with an acute water crisis. Since mid-March, scorching temperatures have led to at least 26 heat-related deaths, according to the nation’s health ministry. The double-whammy of weather phenomena, scientists have warned, is aggravated by climate change — which alters usual weather patterns and results in longer and hotter periods with less rain.
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Across Tabasco and Chiapas, the effects of drought and excessive heat are compounded by the region’s worsening deforestation, forest fires and logging, said wildlife biologist Gilberto Pozo. Those factors combined, he said, have led to howler monkeys being deprived of the food, water and shade they need to survive.
The resulting monkey deaths began on May 4 and seem to have peaked last weekend, said Pozo, who is a researcher at the Tabasco-based conservation organization Cobius, which stands for Biodiversity Conservation of the Usumacinta, a region that stretches between Mexico and Guatemala.
“Everything that could go wrong here essentially did — all these things came together and the monkeys just couldn’t take it anymore,” Pozo said. “This is a dire warning that human activities have consequences, which can be fatal for biodiversity and, in this case, for a species that is in danger of extinction.”
Howler monkeys, known as saraguatos, are crucial for the tropical rainforests that cover most of southern Mexico, Pozo said. The primates’ role as one of the ecosystem’s top seed dispersers is incredibly effective — albeit purely accidental. Because of their steady diet of fruit, howler monkeys carry seeds in their bellies while traveling across the jungle.
Once the monkeys defecate, those seeds land on the ground and eventually turn into the huge trees blanketing the region. This process, Pozo said, promotes biodiversity and healthy forest growth.
In addition to serving as the jungle’s gardeners, howler monkeys have been an icon of Mexican culture for centuries. The Maya — a civilization that spanned much of Central America and southern Mexico for hundreds of years — revered the howler monkey as a mischievous deity and the patron of artisans, musicians and scribes. In the Aztec Empire, monkeys symbolized joy and had a day dedicated to them.
Despite the primates’ significance, its population has been dwindling for decades — mainly due to habitat destruction, disease and hunting. The International Union for Conservation of Nature, the world’s top wildlife-monitoring group, has classified the Mexican subspecies of howler monkey as endangered since 2003 — and warned that 31 percent of its suitable habitat could be lost by 2048.
The new, blistering heat is “not helping — not at all,” Pozo said.
Over the past week, nonprofits, researchers and civil organizations have called on the Mexican government to do more to save the monkeys — and complained about what a local association of zoologists and conservationists, Azcarm, called “the total absence” of federal institutions.
Mexico’s environmental agency, SEMARNAT, “has not taken a true leadership role in this emergency,” Azcarm said in a statement, adding that a “contingency plan is urgently needed.”
In a statement, a SEMARNAT spokesperson said the agency is making “a coordinated effort to address this issue,” and referred The Post to its previous news releases. In one from Monday, SEMARNAT said investigators are conducting necropsies to determine what’s causing the monkeys’ deaths, adding that “federal, state and municipal authorities were working in coordination with the academic sector and zoos in the region.”
Sign up for the Climate Coach newsletter and get advice for life on our changing planet, in your inbox every Tuesday.
But those booming, guttural growls have grown fainter in recent weeks as at least 147 monkeys died amid excessive heat raging in the states of Tabasco and Chiapas, said local veterinarian Víctor Morato.
In Comalcalco, where temperatures have topped 113 degrees, residents have stumbled upon the corpses of monkeys “that dropped dead from the trees,” Morato said — sometimes, as many as 10 bodies at a time. Other primates that were found still clinging to life have been rushed to Morato’s animal hospital, where he immediately hooks them to IV drips with electrolytes.
“It’s the saddest thing to have them stretch out their little hands to you as if to say, ‘Please help me, I’m dying,’” Morato told The Washington Post. “And more heartbreaking yet is to think that we humans have
Over the past year, an ongoing and severe drought has parched most of Mexico, draining reservoirs and leaving parts of the country grappling with an acute water crisis. Since mid-March, scorching temperatures have led to at least 26 heat-related deaths, according to the nation’s health ministry. The double-whammy of weather phenomena, scientists have warned, is aggravated by climate change — which alters usual weather patterns and results in longer and hotter periods with less rain.
Follow Climate & environment
Across Tabasco and Chiapas, the effects of drought and excessive heat are compounded by the region’s worsening deforestation, forest fires and logging, said wildlife biologist Gilberto Pozo. Those factors combined, he said, have led to howler monkeys being deprived of the food, water and shade they need to survive.
The resulting monkey deaths began on May 4 and seem to have peaked last weekend, said Pozo, who is a researcher at the Tabasco-based conservation organization Cobius, which stands for Biodiversity Conservation of the Usumacinta, a region that stretches between Mexico and Guatemala.
“Everything that could go wrong here essentially did — all these things came together and the monkeys just couldn’t take it anymore,” Pozo said. “This is a dire warning that human activities have consequences, which can be fatal for biodiversity and, in this case, for a species that is in danger of extinction.”
Howler monkeys, known as saraguatos, are crucial for the tropical rainforests that cover most of southern Mexico, Pozo said. The primates’ role as one of the ecosystem’s top seed dispersers is incredibly effective — albeit purely accidental. Because of their steady diet of fruit, howler monkeys carry seeds in their bellies while traveling across the jungle.
Once the monkeys defecate, those seeds land on the ground and eventually turn into the huge trees blanketing the region. This process, Pozo said, promotes biodiversity and healthy forest growth.
In addition to serving as the jungle’s gardeners, howler monkeys have been an icon of Mexican culture for centuries. The Maya — a civilization that spanned much of Central America and southern Mexico for hundreds of years — revered the howler monkey as a mischievous deity and the patron of artisans, musicians and scribes. In the Aztec Empire, monkeys symbolized joy and had a day dedicated to them.
Despite the primates’ significance, its population has been dwindling for decades — mainly due to habitat destruction, disease and hunting. The International Union for Conservation of Nature, the world’s top wildlife-monitoring group, has classified the Mexican subspecies of howler monkey as endangered since 2003 — and warned that 31 percent of its suitable habitat could be lost by 2048.
The new, blistering heat is “not helping — not at all,” Pozo said.
Over the past week, nonprofits, researchers and civil organizations have called on the Mexican government to do more to save the monkeys — and complained about what a local association of zoologists and conservationists, Azcarm, called “the total absence” of federal institutions.
Mexico’s environmental agency, SEMARNAT, “has not taken a true leadership role in this emergency,” Azcarm said in a statement, adding that a “contingency plan is urgently needed.”
In a statement, a SEMARNAT spokesperson said the agency is making “a coordinated effort to address this issue,” and referred The Post to its previous news releases. In one from Monday, SEMARNAT said investigators are conducting necropsies to determine what’s causing the monkeys’ deaths, adding that “federal, state and municipal authorities were working in coordination with the academic sector and zoos in the region.”
