At least 138 howler monkeys have been found dead in Mexico since May 16, amid a heat wave that reached 113 degrees on Tuesday.
The monkeys, which are said to have fallen dead from the trees “like apples”, are among the latest victims of the extreme heat caused by the current El Niño Cycle, which is having terrible effects on both humans and animals. “They were in a state of severe dehydration and died within minutes,” wildlife biologist Gilberto Pozo told the Associated Press.
Yahoo News spoke with Nikhil Advani, senior director of wildlife and climate resilience at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), about how global warming is affecting animals like howler monkeys in Mexico and what conservationists are doing to try to protect them.
What’s going on?
El Ninoa global climate warming phenomenon that occurs every few years, causing significant fluctuations in temperature and other climate disruptions, has been exacerbated in recent years by unprecedented heat resulting from climate change.
This combination, Advani explained, has proven fatal to a variety of wild animals, including howler monkeys, primates found mainly in Central and South America and known for their distinctive roar.
“All species have temperature limits within which they can tolerate,” Advani explained. “In the case of these monkeys, these temperatures clearly exceeded these limits.”
Advani said that in response to increasingly hot temperatures, some animals are forced to move to new locations, and in some cases even their body size has changed to adapt to new environments. For some species, such as sea turtles in Colombiatemperature changes have also caused an imbalance in sex ratios, which disrupts mating.
“There is also the impact of lack of water availability which often goes hand in hand with extreme heat events,” Advani said, adding that natural disasters and other extreme weather events such as severe floods, cyclones and hurricanes can also cause food shortages for citizens. so many animals.”
“All of these things are impacting the species in many ways,” he said. “We are seeing species that are going extinct, potentially due to the impacts of climate change.”
Climate change is also causing ocean temperatures to rise, resulting in the bleaching of around 63% of the world’s coral reefs. During these events, corals turn pale and may eventually die. The devastation affects other living creatures that depend on corals.
“Where we have coral reef systems, they are the foundation of the ecosystem… they are the lifeblood of that ecosystem,” Advani said. “If we lose this coral reef, we will see a huge reduction in species diversity.”
Advani explained that when the El Niño season ends, floods, droughts and extreme heat will not be as severe as what we are seeing now. However, climate change is worsening the long-term impacts of these cycles.
“Climate change is something that is here to stay,” said Advani. “We tend to look at El Niño years as an indicator of how bad things could potentially get in a decade or two.”
What is being done to protect wildlife?
Conservationists are working on a series of to look for It is initiatives to reduce the negative effects of climate change on wildlife.
For example, WWF claims to have funded 25 projects around the world, including Wildlife Adaptation Innovation Fund designed to help vulnerable animal populations. They include:
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Improving Nest Design for Birds
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Providing artificial shade structures near water wells
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Controlling Sand Temperature for Sea Turtles
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Providing additional water sources for animals
Advani noted that there is a possibility that some of these solutions may not work because creatures may face challenges in adapting to man-made solutions. So organizations like WWF test the solution on a smaller scale and then scale it up if it proves successful.
