Crested black macaques, one of seven macaque species on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, are considered critically endangered. Mother macaques bear one baby every 20 months or so and do most of the parenting. Even the tiniest macaque youngsters in Tangkoko have a lot of freedom to play in and explore the forest, but they don’t stray far from their mothers. If hunters take a mother for meat, they may also capture her offspring for the pet trade.

Faced with the illegal logging of tropical forest for agriculture—which is fragmenting their habitat—the monkeys are suffering serious decline. Meanwhile conservationists are fighting government plans to open wildlands to roads and industries. Advocates believe that teaching children to see the value of a forest full of monkeys will bring lasting benefits and help reverse the decline.

Read the full article, A Fight to Survive, part of National Geographic’s March 2017 issue.

Published February 9, 2017.

Crested black macaques, one of seven macaque species on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, are considered critically endangered. Mother macaques bear one baby every 20 months or so and do most of the parenting. Even the tiniest macaque youngsters in Tangkoko have a lot of freedom to play in and explore the forest, but they don’t stray far from their mothers. If hunters take a mother for meat, they may also capture her offspring for the pet trade.

Faced with the illegal logging of tropical forest for agriculture—which is fragmenting their habitat—the monkeys are suffering serious decline. Meanwhile conservationists are fighting government plans to open wildlands to roads and industries. Advocates believe that teaching children to see the value of a forest full of monkeys will bring lasting benefits and help reverse the decline.

Read the full article, A Fight to Survive, part of National Geographic’s March 2017 issue.

Published February 9, 2017.