Africa's Barbary apes threatened
2005-09-12 10:39
France - Barbary apes are threatened with extinction in their native habitat in North Africa, scientists say, but the species is doing well in Europe, and some have even been repatriated.
The challenge now, says Ellen Merz, a Swiss ethnologist who has been studying them since 1972, "is to protect them in their native countries and save the forests where they live there from felling and over-grazing".
"I hope we'll be able to save them," she said, "but it's not guaranteed".
Barbary apes, which in fact are monkeys, also roam Gibraltar, the British island off Spain.
In France, they have been living for 36 years at the Kintzheim reserve deep in the forest on the northeast border with Germany.
There are now 298 of them in the park, known as "Monkey Mountain", which covers 24 hectares of pines, firs, and oak and beech trees, and overlooks the half-timbered houses of the village of Kintzheim.
It is visited by some 300 000 people a year.
A local agronomist, Gilbert de Turckheim, and his friend Jacques Renaud brought the first Barbary apes here from the Atlas mountains in Morocco in 1969.
They adapted perfectly, Merz said, with the climate here similar to what they were used to.
They bred so prolifically, in fact, that their offspring are now in another park in France (Rocamadour), one in Germany (Salem) and one in Britain (Trentham).
In all, 850 Barbary apes are in the four reserves, with their reproduction now controlled by contraceptive implants.
At Kintzheim, an 800-metre walking track allows visitors to get close to the primates, with the most adventurous lolling around the barriers begging for popcorn.
They include Arsene, who at 28 is the oldest primate in the park.
"The relations are friendly," said Merz, who is in charge of the reserve.
"The monkeys have had good experiences with visitors and know they have nothing to fear."
In 1978, a count of Barbary apes in north Africa, essentially Morocco and Algeria, indicated a population of 22 000 to 23 000.
Now, Merz said, only 7 000 remain in Morocco and 3 000 in Algeria.
In the 1980s, around 600 Barbary apes born in Europe were taken to the Atlas mountains and set free.
It took them several weeks to learn to feed themselves - one delicacy is scorpions - and to distinguish between false dangers, such as a cow, and real dangers, such as dogs, Merz said.
The park here has proved an ideal terrain for Merz to study the behaviour of the Barbary apes, especially the role of the males heading each troop.
The male leaders win their place by their ability to form alliances, she said, while the females contribute stability, with both educating the young.
With the North African habitat threatened, Merz said, "at least we have constituted a genetic pool here".