MMexico City — It’s so hot in Mexico that howler monkeys are falling dead from trees.
At least 83 of the medium-sized primates, known for their booming vocal screams, have been found dead in the Gulf Coast state of Tabasco. Others were rescued by residents, including five who were rushed to a local veterinarian who fought to save them.
“They arrived in critical condition, with dehydration and fever,” said Dr. Sergio Valenzuela. “They were limp as rags. It was heatstroke.”
While Mexico’s brutal heat wave has been linked to the deaths of at least 26 people since March, veterinarians and rescuers say it has killed dozens and perhaps hundreds of howler monkeys.
In the town of Tecolutilla, Tabasco, dead monkeys began appearing on Friday when a local volunteer fire and rescue squad showed up with five of the creatures in the back of their truck.
Normally quite intimidating, howler monkeys are muscular and can be around 60 centimeters tall, with equally long tails. They are equipped with large jaws and a fearsome set of teeth and fangs. But mostly, their lion-like roars, which belie their size, are what they are known for.
“They (the volunteers) asked for help, they asked if I could examine some of the animals they had in the truck,” Valenzuela said on Monday. “They said they didn’t have any money and asked if I could do it for free.”
The vet iced his limp little hands and feet and hooked them up to IV fluids with electrolytes.
So far, the monkeys appear to be recovering. Once apathetic and easy to handle, they are now in cages in Valenzuela’s office. “They are recovering. They’re aggressive…they’re biting again,” he said, noting that’s a healthy sign for the usually stealthy creatures.
Most are not so lucky. Wildlife biologist Gilberto Pozo counted some 83 dead or dying animals on the ground beneath the trees. The die-off began around May 5 and reached its peak over the weekend.
“They were falling out of the trees like apples,” Pozo said. “They were in a state of severe dehydration and died within minutes.” Already weakened, Pozo says that falls from dozens of meters high cause additional damage that often ends the monkeys.
Pozo attributes the deaths to a “synergy” of factors, including high heat, drought, forest fires and logging that deprives the monkeys of water, shade and the fruit they eat.
For the people of the humid, swampy, jungle-covered state of Tabasco, the howler monkey is an iconic and cherished species; local people say the monkeys tell them the time of day by howling at dawn and dusk.
Pozo said local people – who he knows through his work with the Usumacinta Biodiversity Conservation group – have been trying to help the monkeys they see on their farms. But he notes that this could be a double-edged sword.
“They were falling from the trees and people got emotional and went to help the animals, they put water and fruit for them,” said Pozo. “They want to take care of them, especially the little monkeys, adopt them.”
“But no, the truth is that babies are very delicate, they cannot stay in a house where there are dogs or cats, because they have pathogens that can be potentially fatal for howler monkeys,” he said, stressing that they must be rehabilitated. and released into nature.
Pozo’s group has set up special recovery stations for monkeys – it currently houses five monkeys, but birds and reptiles have also been affected – and is trying to organize a team of specialized veterinarians to give the primates the care they need.
The federal government belatedly acknowledged the problem on Monday, with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador saying he had heard about it on social media. He congratulated Valenzuela on her efforts and said the government would seek to support the work.
López Obrador acknowledged the heat problem – “I’ve never felt this bad” – but he also has many human problems to solve.
As of May 9, at least nine cities in Mexico had set temperature records, with Ciudad Victoria in the border state of Tamaulipas registering a scorching 117 F (47 C).
With below-average rainfall across most of the country so far this year, lakes It is dams are drying, the water supply is running out and authorities had to transport water to everything from hospitals to firefighting teams. Low levels at hydroelectric dams contributed to power cuts in some parts of the country.
Consumers are also feeling the heat. On Monday, national convenience store chain OXXO — the largest in the country — said it was limiting ice purchases to just two or three bags per customer in some locations.
“In a period of high temperatures, OXXO is taking measures to guarantee the supply of products to our customers,” said parent company FEMSA in a statement. “The limits on the sale of bagged ice seek to ensure that a greater number of customers can purchase this product.”
But for monkeys it is not a question of comfort, but of life and death.
“This is a sentinel species,” Pozo said, referring to the canary effect in a coal mine, where one species can tell you a lot about an ecosystem. “This is telling us something about what’s happening with climate change.”
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
