Updated 02.28 | Published 02.22
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full screen We will protect the monkeys in the heat, promises Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Archive image. Photo: Marco Ugarte/AP/TT
Dead howler monkeys have been falling from trees in tropical forests in southeastern Mexico in recent weeks. There is a drought and heat wave in large parts of the country.
According to media reports, at least 85 monkeys have died in the state of Tabasco, where the temperature this week is expected to exceed 45 degrees. Local authorities have confirmed the trend without specifying a death toll, writes the Reuters news agency.
Authorities in Tabasco link the deaths to dehydration. In a forest, volunteers collect the carcasses of howler monkeys and set out buckets of fruit and water in an attempt to prevent more deaths.
– This is because the heat is so intense. I have been visiting the states for a long time and I have never experienced it as strongly as now, said President Andrés Manuel López Obrador when asked about the monkeys at a press conference.
– We have to take care of the animals and we will do that.