556 Conservation News
Decline of the Critically Endangered Tonkin snub- nosed monkey in Quan Ba forest, Vietnam
Vietnam is a stronghold for threatened and endemic primate species, including the Critically Endangered Tonkin snub-nosed monkey Rhinopithecus avunculus. This species is confined to a few areas of north-east Vietnam and its distribution has declined markedly as a result of extensive deforestation, cardamom farming within forested areas and intensive hunting. The Tonkin snub-nosed monkey is now known from only two small forest patches in Ha Giang province (Khau Ca and Quan Ba forests). The Fauna & Flora Vietnam Programme, with financial
support from the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund and the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation, has been supporting community conservation teams for over a decade in both forests. These efforts focus on forest protection and redu- cing illegal wildlife trade. In Quan Ba, despite regular pa- trols, the species has not been sighted since 22 June 2020, although there have been anecdotal reports of the species from local community members. To determine its current status in Quan Ba, we initially gathered direct and indirect evidence from local communities, followed by a systematic 2 × 2 km grid-based survey during 17–21 April 2024.Each grid cell, except those heavily impacted by agriculture or human habitation, was searched by pairs of observers, in- cluding experienced biologists and community conserva- tion team members. A total of 32 surveyors traversed a total of 731 km, searching for any evidence of the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey, but we did not record any significant signs of the species. The decline of the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey in Quan
Ba is of great concern, and underscores the urgent need for a protected area designation for this forest, focusing on zonation, habitat restoration and an expansion programme for the Khau Ca forest. Khau Ca is a National Park, pro- viding protection specifically for the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey and its habitat. Quan Ba, however, does not have a conservation designation and therefore does not receive comparable protection. Monitoring and manage- ment plans need to be implemented to ensure the survival of this species and to preserve the ecological integrity of the region. Additionally, intensive research is required to prevent any cascading effects on the population in Khau Ca.
AISHWARYA MAHESHWARI (
aishwarya.maheshwari@fauna-
flora.org), CHU XUAN CANH,NGUYEN QUYET TAM,NGUYEN VAN TOAN,HA TRI THIEN and VU VIET HA Fauna & Flora, Vietnam Programme, Hanoi, Vietnam
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC BY 4.0.
Adult male Ryukyu rabbit tick Haemaphysalis pentalagi. Photo copyright: Takamasa Nemoto (all rights reserved).
Oryx, 2024, 58(5), 555–564 © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S003060532400098X
Saving the Ryukyu rabbit tick Haemaphysalis pentalagi
The metazoan parasites of vertebrates are important com- ponents of global biodiversity but although many parasite species are threatened with extinction, their conservation has been largely neglected. However, recent interest has cul- minated in the emergence of the nascent field of parasite conservation biology and the establishment of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Parasite Specialist Group (Hopkins & Kwak, 2023, Oryx, 57, 283). Until now, parasite conservation biology has been largely aspirational, with few practical efforts to protect threatened parasites. As far as we are aware, the conservation programme for the Ryukyu rab- bit tick Haemaphysalis pentalagi is the first for a globally threatened parasite species. The Ryukyu rabbit tick is a co-threatened parasite of the
Amami rabbit Pentalagus furnessi, both endemic to the Amami archipelago in southern Japan. The population of P. furnessi (and presumably also H. pentalagi) declined markedly following the introduction of the small Indian mongoose Urva auropunctata in the 1970s. In 2022, a con- servation project, partly funded by theMohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, was launched to safeguard the Ryukyu rabbit tick from extinction, through both in situ and ex situ actions. On Amamioshima, in situ monitoring of H. pentalagi is ongoing. The aim is to collect baseline abun- dance data on H. pentalagi and to then assess the impacts of conservation actions taken to control introduced predators (mongooses, feral cats and dogs) and wildlife diseases (e.g. toxoplasmosis, rabbit haemorrhagic disease) that threaten H. pentalagi and its host P. furnessi. An ex situ insurance population of H. pentalagi has been established at Hokkaido University from individuals col- lected on Amamioshima. This population has successfully reproduced in captivity and had completed one full life cycle as of May 2024, with the second captive-bred generation now maturing. A husbandry manual for this
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140
