Hundreds of Barbary macaques feared dead after wildfires in Morocco

The wildfires that raged across Morocco’s North last month are likely to have worsened the condition for the endangered Barbary macaque, the only primate species left in North Africa.

The Bouhachem Forest Reserve in northern Morocco was one of the few refuges of the Barbary macaques. Now that it has burnt, conservationists say that hundreds of Barbary macaques are feared dead, according to the UK NGO Barbary Macaque Awareness and Conservation (BMAC) reporting from their Bouhachem base, as read on Mongabay news.

The burning of the Bouhachem forest cost residents their houses, crops, and much of their livestock. The endangered macaque specie is the only primate species left in North Africa. It can only be found in the Rif and the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and in Algeria and a small number can be found in Gibraltar.

These animals attract tourists and visitors to the Rif region, which generates income for the local community.

The fire has affected wildlife in the Bouhachem reserve, which is home to several species on the International Union for Conservation Nature (IUCN) red list of threatened species such as Greek turtles (Testudo graeca), the Berber stag (Cervus elaphus barbarus) which was recently introduced to the reserve, and the Dartford warbler (Sylvia undata) and northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis), birds that are considered to be regionally rare and highly threatened, according to professor Imad Cherkaoui’s statement to Mongabay.

It has been reported that out of the 4,000 Barbary macaques in the forest, 23 have been found dead so far following the wildfire incident.

The lost macaques were all members of a group of 56 living near the BMAC base.

Sian Waters, a BMAC advisor told Mongabay that she fears the total number of dead Barbary macaques will rise in the upcoming days.

The fire burned away layers of leaf litter and the understory of the forest, which the macaques rely on for food. Conservationists will assess the unburned parts of the forest trying to find where the macaques might find food in the upcoming months.

Cherkaoui expects that the use of forests to grow cannabis will hinder their recovery. He estimates that the forest will need a decade to fully recover from the wildfires.

The Bouachem forest has previously proven that it can regenerate, being heavily exploited when it was previously occupied by Spain, it still managed to regain its liveliness.