Endangered Barbary Macaques Threatened by Morocco’s Forest Fires

This species of monkey belonging to the Cercopithecidae family lives in the mountainous areas of the Rif and Middle Atlas. Listed as an "endangered" species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, the Barbary macaque is the only macaque living outside of Asia.

Among the causes of the decline in the population of this macaque in Morocco are the disappearance of its habitat due to deforestation, climate change, drought, poaching and, most recently, human-caused or natural fires. The recent forest fires have killed hundreds of Barbary macaques, most of which are in the Bouhachem forest reserve in northern Morocco, according to the British NGO Barbary Macaque Awareness and Conservation (BMAC).