In 2010, Fauna & Flora International (FFI) staff were part of a team of primatologists that discovered the Myanmar snub-nosed monkey in Myanmar. The monkey is found in Kachin State in north-eastern Myanmar as well as in Yunnan Province in southern China, close to the border with Myanmar, and is cut off from other related species by the Mekong and Salween Rivers. With an estimated population of only around 260-330 individuals, the species is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Family:
Cercopithecidae
Order:
Primates
Est. in the wild:
260-330
Sometimes affectionately referred to as the ‘snubby’, the Myanmar snub-nosed monkey is such a rare and elusive species that only a few people have ever seen it.
2010
The year when the species was first officially recorded by a team of primatologists including FFI staff.
Two years
after its discovery, the species was formally classified as Critically Endangered.
The Myanmar snub-nosed monkey is facing serious threats, with its forest habitat coming under pressure from increased logging and development (including one of Asia’s largest hydropower development schemes).
To support these industries, new roads are being built, allowing hunters and illegal loggers easy access to the mountain forests. Meanwhile, the influx of workers to the region is increasing demand for bushmeat and wildlife products.
Your support could give a lifeline to the Myanmar snub-nosed monkey. This remarkable monkey is severely threatened with only 260–330 remaining. We are reducing hunting and tackling the illegal wildlife trade but we need your support to help keep up this work. Please send your gift today.
As soon as FFI and partners made this startling discovery, we took immediate conservation action together with local communities to ensure the survival of this species, which was previously unknown to science.
We are monitoring Myanmar’s snub-nosed monkey using camera traps and intensive surveys, and have launched a comprehensive conservation awareness programme for local communities and Chinese construction workers.
We have also started a community ranger programme and a sustainable livelihoods programme for the forest-dependent indigenous peoples.
Myanmar harbours large tracts of forest and many charismatic or endemic species such as the red panda and the Myanmar snub-nosed monkey. It also home to rich marine ecosystems including coral reefs.
Forests contain the overwhelming majority of life on Earth, including a staggering 80% of the planet’s terrestrial species.