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. Fauna & Flora team member on a Tonkin snub-nosed monkey survey. In April 2024, conservationists with the organization found no significant evidence of the monkeys in Quan Ba Forest. Image courtesy of Oliver Wearn/Fauna & Flora. “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,…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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