Tonkin Expedition E-Book

Kai Althoetmar

• Herausgeber: Nature Press
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

In the karst rock forests of North Vietnam, conservationists struggle for the preservation of one of the rarest species of primates in the world: only 250 individuals of the clown-like Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys are left. In 1989, the species believed extinct, was rediscovered. The Sisyphean task of the Vietnamese rangers and biologists in the rough terrain delivered its first successes. As first European journalist, the author accompanied the rangers on a four-day field trip through the remote karst rock mountain region near the Chinese border. He reports on the struggle of conservation of the species, on corruption, poaching and wildlife trade and on the change in the Vietnam of today. - Illustrated ebook. Also available as an illustrated paperback.

Leseprobe

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Tonkin Expedition

Kai Althoetmar

Tonkin Expedition

In Search of the Last Snub-nosed Monkeys of Vietnam

Translated by Michaele Ijewski-Lamsfuhs

Imprint:

Book title: „Tonkin Expedition. In Search of the Last Snub-nosed Monkeys of Vietnam“.

German original book title: „Expedition Tonkin. Auf der Suche nach Vietnams letzten Stumpfnasenaffen“.

Year of publication: 2019.

Author and publisher:

Kai Althoetmar

Nature Press

Am Heiden Weyher 2

53902 Bad Münstereifel

Germany

Text: © Kai Althoetmar.

English translation: Michaele Ijewski-Lamsfuhs.

Cover picture: Tonkin snub-nosed monkey, Vietnam. Photo: Quyet Le Khac, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Vietnam. Map: Dirk Tussing, CC BY-SA 2.0.

There is a list circulating among primatologists that sounds like the text of a "Wanted!" poster. "Primates in Peril. The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates". This list is launched once every few years by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Three of those top places in the ranking go to Vietnam. Only Madagascar shows more candidates for the extinction of species. With its 25 different kinds of primates Vietnam is a hotspot of diversity of species among the Amazon Region, Indonesia, Madagascar and the Congo Basin. It outnumbers every other country on the continent of South East Asia.

Eight species of phyllophagous Old World monkeys amongst these 25 listed ones belong to the rarest ones. “Almost all are in danger because of exploitation for medical purpose, meat or as pets – and their populations are shattered and drastically diminished” say the US-scientists Eleanor Sterling, Martha Hurley and Le Duc Minh in their standard piece of literature “Vietnam – A Natural History“.

Some of the most endangered primates can also be characterised as “the most wanted ones”. The Holy Grail of the primatologists, the Golden Fleece, the Amber Room of primatology – each of the Top 25 species is so rare that it can serve as a legend. This may result from the fact that one or the other of these species have vanished from the scene for a century or a half and therefore was thought of as extinct. Or if one species is seen at all, the encounter stands at the end of a long journey. For example an encounter with Rhinopithecus avunculus.

The Vietnamese call it Vooc mui hech. In English the cute fellow is called Tonkin snub-nosed monkey or Dollman’s snub-nosed monkey. It looks like a clown with a pushed in nose. This species is so rare that the hole population could find place in a Vietnamese junk.

For decades, the “Tonkins” were said to be extinct. But in 1989 they were rediscovered. Now, the last few hundred specimens swing through the treetops of the subtropical mountain jungles of North Vietnam. The biggest population lives in the reservation Khau Ca next to the Chinese border, a restricted zone for foreigners. Scientists who don’t fear the gigantic dragon of Vietnamese bureaucracy may be excluded. And this is exactly the area, where we want to go to.

Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys are one of the five species of snub-nosed monkeys, and the only one living in Vietnam (see text in the box). The quintet has hardly been examined. Till 1993, the snub-nosed monkeys were included to the monkeys. Meanwhile they form their own class. Taxonomically both species belong to the family of Cercopithecidae. On a family tree the “Tonkins” would range between red-shanked monkeys and the four other snub-nosed species.

_____________________________________________________

Snub-nosed monkeys: they are all endangered

Snub-nosed monkeys only live in Asia and belong to the family of Cercopithecidae. Three of the five species are residents of south and central China. Amongst the Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys there are four other families which are also endangered in their existence.

Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys: Their number is estimated as 1,500 to 2,000. IUCN-Status: “highly threatened”. No other primates live as high as the Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys in Tibet, who brave snow and ice for months in 3,000 m to 4,700 m. In the last twenty five years, their number sank by one fifth. Attempts to breed them in captivity did not succeed. Sling hunting for musk deer who are hunted illegally for their glands that are needed for the perfume industry, simultaneously decimates those primates. Recently, a whole population of fifty animals died of pesticides, others are endangered in long term by inbreeding.

Guizhou snub-nosed monkeys: They are limited to the region of Mount Fanjing, a region not easily accessible in the Mountains of Wuling in Central China. Their number is estimated at 750 to 900 animals. They are listed as “highly threatened” on the Red List. In winter, small groups descend from hights up to 2,500 m down to the river valleys. They also face widespread habitat loss, illegal poaching and mass tourism.

Stryker's snub-nosed monkey: This species, also konwn as Burmese snub-nosed monkey, has only been known shortly. In 2010, a team of scientists of the Swiss Primatologist Thomas Geissmann discovered these primates with their black fur and white ear tufts in the cool temperate climate zone in the mountain rain forests of northern Myanmar. Hunters told of the monkeys in the valley of the Maw river and said that on rainy days, they sat on trees, their heads between their knees making themselves noticeable by sneezing loudly. Their number is estimated at 300 individuals. IUCN-Status: “critically endangered”. In 2011, a completely unexplored population of Stryker's snub-nosed monkeys was discovered in Yunnan, just across the border of China.

---ENDE DER LESEPROBE---