Silent Canopies

A spate of howler monkey deaths in Nicaragua, Panama, and Ecuador has researchers scrambling to identify the cause.

Written byJef Akst

| 4 min read

Save for Later

Listen with Speechify

0:00

4:00

HOWLERS DOWN: A female howler (Alouatta palliata) peers down from the canopy in a Nicaraguan forest.HAL BRINDLEY

In late September, Kimberly Williams-Guillén, an assistant professor at the University of Washington Bothell and a conservation scientist for the Nicaraguan environmental NGO Paso Pacífico, received a report that a handful of howler monkeys (genus Alouatta) had been found dead at an ecoresort in Nicaragua. Bizarrely, the monkeys showed no signs of trauma or disease. “They seemed to be in fairly good condition,” she recalls.

Over the next couple of months, Williams-Guillén and her colleagues continued to receive news that howler monkeys were dying. Then, around mid-January, the reports really started to flood in. Landowners, farmers, and other members of local communities in southwestern Nicaragua were all finding dead howler monkeys. Soon, the researchers began hearing of howler monkeys dying in certain areas of Ecuador ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!

Join for free today

Already a member?

Add The Scientist as a preferred Google source to see more of our trusted coverage.

Meet the Author

Jef Akst
Go to The Scientist's LinkedIn Page
Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
View Full Profile