Nicaragua - Howler monkeys found dead in Rivas may have died of pneumonia or unknown bacteria?

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[TABLE="class: infobox geography, width: 256, height: 1"]
[TR="class: mergedtoprow"]
[TD="bgcolor: #FFE5CC, colspan: 2"]Rivas[/TD]
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[TD="bgcolor: #FFE5CC, colspan: 2"]Departamento de Rivas[/TD]
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivas_Department


Translation Google

Authorities believe Nicaragua Pneumonia could kill primates in Rivas.

February 2016 / Lenin Campos / Managua / Nicaragua -

More than 18 monkeys found dead in Congo dry tropical forests of San Juan del Sur, Tola and Chacocente, may have died from pneumonia, said officials from the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Marena).

Since November last year began to appear the first Congos dead monkeys, then they followed reports in December, and was not until January that a local organization gave warning. About the FUNDENIC-SOS organization blamed the deaths on poachers, who in their eagerness to hunt monkeys, criminal hunting gear used to numb the herds of monkeys, which often look in these areas.
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http://www.boletinecologico.org/aut...-creen-pulmonia-pudo-matar-primates-en-rivas/

 

[Emily]

I think these are howlers, too.

http://www.globalpost.com/article/6...s-investigate-zika-link-mystery-monkey-deaths

 

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Please take note that I am not familiar with this source

What?s killing howler monkeys in Nicaragua?

by Tim Rogers
February 3, 2016 8:45 a.m.

Some conservationists speculate that the primates? plight might be related to drought, food shortages or other environmental factors. But one leading primate expert thinks the monkey die-off could be an early warning sign for something far more serious: a new viral outbreak.

That?s because howler monkeys are super susceptible to mosquito-borne illnesses. Previous monkey die-offs were harbingers of yellow fever outbreaks in Central America in the 1950s, and more recently in Argentina in the late 2000s.

Yellow fever was eradicated in Nicaragua decades ago, but has since been replaced by other mosquito-borne viruses such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika...
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Over the past few months, more than two dozen howler monkeys were found fallen in the tropical dry forest covering Nicaragua?s southern Pacific coast, according to a body count by Paso Pacifico, a non-governmental conservation group working in the area. Those are just the cases people know about. The real number of dead monkeys in the forest could be much higher, conservationists warn.

The dead monkeys that Williams-Guill?n?s Paso Pacifico team has examined did not appear to be physically sick, she says. The dead monkeys were found with food in their stomachs and no signs of physical trauma, lesions or hemorrhaging. That suggests they didn?t die of starvation or injury, and that any illness they might have contracted was fast-acting, the wildlife expert says.
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Williams-Guill?n, who has been studying Nicaragua?s howler monkey population for more than 20 years, says she has ?no doubt? that howler monkeys are dying of unusual causes. ?I?ve spent years walking around the forest in Nicaragua and never came across a dead monkey before; now we?re coming across many,? she said.
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Full text and video:
http://fusion.net/story/263503/whats-killing-howler-monkeys-in-nicaragua/

 

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Translation Google

Howler monkeys are dying in Rivas

Ram?n Villarreal 14/02/2016

More Howler monkeys have been found dead in various parts of Rivas. PRESS / R. VILLARREAL

Only on a farm known as La Tajona, located in the town of El Coyol, Tola municipality in the department of Rivas, 80 howler monkeys are reported dead aulladores- -or, as 12 sloths.

According to Guillermo Lopez Mora, manager of the La Tajona, whose length is about 400 blocks, throughout that area since early January, they began to appear dead monkeys.

This farm was common to see groups of monkeys between 20 and 60 copies in search of water and food, but the groups are down in this area.

In late January, they were reported killed this 2016 first copies in dry tropical forests of San Juan del Sur, Tola and Chacocente.

After learning this news, Vice Minister of Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Marena), Augusto Flores, explained that the causes of death of the howler monkeys in the department of Rivas are "acts of God" related to "irresponsible actions" of some people.

http://www.laprensa.com.ni/2016/02/14/departamentales/1986102-siguen-muriendo-monos-congo-en-rivas

 

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Called in to investigate death of howler monkeys

17/02/2016 - News , Last Minute -

Expert points out possible causes of death of animals

Author: Melissa Aguilera and Ramon Villarreal

Until yesterday it was known for the death of 72 species, however government authorities not give official figures.

TODAY

Biologist Julio Sanchez told TODAY that does not consider the death of the howler monkeys in the forests of the Dry Tropics of the Pacific coast of Tola and San Juan del Sur, are due to the drought being experienced not only in that area of the country .

According to Sanchez, even if climate change or water scarcity, howler monkeys easily adapt to their environment, without considerable damages their health.

"This type of species has very good adaptation skills, I do not think it (death) is (for) hunt, because if so would obviously have traces of attacks by hunters," said an adviser to environmental issues.

Possible causes

Sanchez attributed the death of species other problems that should be studied in depth by the authorities of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Marena) and other organizations.

"There may be three sources, biological one where they might be infected with a virus or bacteria. Also a chemical origin, which means there may be some chemical in a power supply or water, "said Sanchez.

He added that the death could also be attributed to the disruption of ecosystems because in that area wildfires occur.

The biologist said congo monkeys usually always moved from one point A to a point B because it is their safe zone, so it recommended that the authorities of Marena analyze the whole area that run these species.

"That way it should be studied, that is, take the route segment it and begin to identify segments where this change is killing the species is found," he said.

The veterinarian Dr. Noel Martinez Mena said it has staff with expertise in primates and sloths, and added that with a body intended to travel to areas where they are finding dead bodies of howler monkeys, to make a study.

"The monkeys appear convulsing, sometimes hanging in the trees die as if they had any pain, what makes us think that these primates may be being affected by a virus, but that we can secure up to go to the field, and examine the monkeys, "he said.

http://www.hoy.com.ni/2016/02/17/llamado-a-investigar-muerte-de-monos-congos/

 

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Translation Google

Bacteria could be killing Howler monkeys

Ram?n Villarreal 02/29/2016

So far the authorities concerned have not given a report on what is happening with the howler monkeys have been reported dead in some areas of San Juan del Sur and Tola. PRESS / FILE.

The death of good amount of howler monkeys howling in the woods of the dry tropics of Tola and San Juan del Sur, last November to date, could be caused by bacteria previously unknown, explained Leonardo Torres, president of the Nicaraguan chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises Tourism (Cantur).

"I do not know the details of the bacteria, but there is a bacteria that is affecting them (the monkeys), but is deepening in this investigation and as samples were sent abroad," he said.

According to Torres met since the death of the first 18 howler monkeys, they contacted Juana Arge?al, head of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Marena), warning of the situation.

"We have were killed in several places almost 80 howler monkeys, it seems that there is a problem of a bacterium, we are working with an NGO that is supporting us on this issue, the Marena is also taking part in this, we hope that this resolved, and not dying we follow this species, "said Torres.

President Cantur recalled that the sighting of howler monkeys and howler is one of the attractions that tourists love to hear them howl, and are part of the environment and species of Nicaragua.

The official record of the population is unknown monkeys and so far there is no accurate record of how many have died.

They continue to die

Since the environmental agency Paso Pacifico said 72 howler monkeys have died in that strip of the South Pacific, in mid-February, on the same date in the farm La Tajona , of the community of El Coyol in Tola, were reported another 80 sloths primates and 12 dead.

Guillermo Lopez Mora, responsible for the care of the La Tajona, said the number of primates and sloths dead began to observe from January 6 last, and that in the last two weeks found six other howler monkeys and two sloths dead .

"Today (Sunday) another monkey was killed, there are eating vultures, have continued dying and there are parts of the mountain that you do not look, because these winds costs go but sure there are more of these animals which have been dead, "he said.

http://www.laprensa.com.ni/2016/02/...732-bacteria-podria-estar-matando-monos-congo

 

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U-M researchers leading effort to explain recent howler monkey deaths in Nicaragua

• Feb 25, 2016
• Contact Jim Erickson
• 

Two mantled howler monkey females with babies. Image credit: Milagros Gonzalez

ANN ARBOR—

Two University of Michigan-based scientists are leading an effort to explain the recent deaths of at least 75 howler monkeys living in the tropical forests of southwestern Nicaragua.

Liliana Cort?s-Ortiz and Kimberly Williams-Guill?n are assembling a multi-institution team of experts to test various scenarios that might explain the Nicaraguan deaths, which come on the heels of smaller howler monkey mortality events in Ecuador and Panama.

"It's really, really, really unusual to see this many monkeys sick all at once and to see this many monkeys dead all at once," said ecologist Williams-Guill?n, a visiting scholar at U-M's School of Natural Resources and Environment who has studied wild howler monkeys in Nicaragua since 1999.

Williams-Guill?n is also the director of conservation science for Paso Pac?fico, an environmental nonprofit that works in Nicaragua's Pacific forests. She said her group has confirmed at least 75 deaths reported by Nicaraguan landowners and forest rangers, 70 of them since mid-January.

Williams-Guill?n plans to return to Nicaragua in a few days to investigate the monkey deaths and to look for other sick or recently deceased howlers.

At this early stage, the researchers have four main cause-of-death hypotheses they'd like to investigate. They want to know whether the deaths were caused by: 1) drought or some other environmental stress resulting in lack of food or water; 2) poisoning by ingestion of plants containing high levels of toxic compounds; 3) pesticides or some other form of environmental contamination; or 4) a pathogen such as a mosquito-transmitted virus like yellow fever or Zika.

"We don't know why this is happening, and we need to find out," said Cort?s-Ortiz, a research associate professor in the U-M Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology who studies primate evolution. "So we are putting together a team of experts to test all possible scenarios in the three countries where howler deaths have been reported."

Cort?s-Ortiz has studied howler monkeys in Mexico, Panama and Peru. She is the Mesoamerican regional coordinator of the Primate Specialist Group, which is part of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

"It is critical to conduct the proper tests and analyses to identify the cause of death for these howler monkeys and to understand whether the deaths in the different countries are related," she said. "At the same time, we need to avoid unfounded speculation and wait until we have solid information."


A female mantled howler monkey in Tabasco, Mexico. Image credit: Milagros Gonzalez

Examination of some of the dead monkeys by the Paso Pac?fico team showed mild dehydration, and the animals had full stomachs. That argues against lack of food or water as the primary cause of death, Williams-Guill?n said.

The researchers hope to collect tissue samples from dead howler monkeys and test for the presence of various pathogens, including the yellow fever virus and Zika, which are related. Those tests will be conducted at one of the partner institutions, not at the University of Michigan.
While howler monkeys are known to be highly susceptible to the yellow fever virus, the disease has not been reported in Nicaragua for many years. And while Nicaragua has reported more than two dozen human cases of Zika recently, it is not known if the Zika virus sickens New World monkeys, Williams-Guill?n said.

"We have absolutely no evidence that these howler monkey deaths are due to Zika virus," she said. "Even so, it is legitimate to mention Zika in this context because it's an emerging infectious disease that has recently been detected in the same country where we're finding these dead primates."

The U-M researchers will collaborate with researchers at several U.S. and Latin American universities who will analyze the blood and tissue samples. But before that can be done, various regulatory hurdles must be cleared.

This month, Paso Pac?fico applied for a research permit from Nicaragua's environmental ministry. The permit includes language that would allow the group to collect samples from dead howler monkeys and ship them out of the country for analysis, Williams-Guill?n said.

Other permits will be required to export the samples from Nicaragua and to bring them into the United States. The import permits will require approval from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Disney Conservation Fund has provided emergency support to Paso Pac?fico to pay for the studies.

Howler monkeys in Nicaragua, Panama and Ecuador are not considered threatened or endangered. But the International Union for the Conservation of Nature recently categorized them as "near threatened," due largely to habitat loss and fragmentation, according to Cort?s-Ortiz.
Large howler monkey die-offs could result in local population extinctions, which would impact the tropical dry forests where the primates live, Cort?s-Ortiz said. Howler monkeys are fruit eaters and disperse plant seeds when they defecate, helping to maintain forest health.

More information:

• Liliana Cort?s-Ortiz

http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/234...s-in-nicaragua