In 2022, Morocco experienced a serious drought, resulting in numerous forest fires. One of the most serious of these occurred in Bouhachem mixed oak forest in the Rif mountains, a stronghold for the Endangered Barbary macaque Macaca sylvanus. This population of the Barbary macaque is important in a global context because it resides in continuous forest habitat and is unaffected by the unmanaged primate tourism seen elsewhere in Morocco.
On 25 July, a wildfire spread rapidly in the forest, assisted by high winds and tinder dry leaf litter. The fire burned for a week and wiped out 7,500 ha of forest, killing wildlife and livestock, destroying crops and damaging surrounding villages. Post-fire, we found the burned bodies of > 50 macaques from the two groups closest to our base, which is in former agricultural land close to the forest. Our monitoring revealed that one of our study groups, which formerly numbered c. 60, now only numbers seven individuals. Another group has not been seen since the fire and we presume all group members perished in the blaze, which burned very fast and hot and left the macaques no time to escape.
Twelve groups close to our project base were badly affected by the fire, suffering fatalities. Their food sources disappeared as the oak trees burned and all the acorns, invertebrates and fungi that the macaques find in the leaf litter and that sustain them through the winter were destroyed.
An overwhelming and prompt response to our emergency funding campaign, particularly from the European zoo community, meant we were able to supply five villages destroyed by the fire with basic provisions and medical supplies and assist villagers in repairing their houses. After reports of macaques foraging in village fields, we began to provide food to the macaque groups we judged at risk of starvation. In autumn, the macaques feed mainly on acorns but many of the oak trees were damaged by the fire. Acorns provide oil and protein, enabling the macaques to gain weight in preparation for winter. We have now constructed multiple feeders to place in trees, to provide the macaques with acorns we are purchasing from elsewhere in Morocco.
We are mindful of the risks of habituating the macaques to the presence of people and sensitive to the perceptions of villagers, who may resent our support of macaque groups. To mitigate against both issues, we are employing local villagers directly affected by the fire to transport the acorns to forest areas known to be used by the macaque groups, away from the paved road.
The forest is already beginning to regenerate but we need to ascertain how soon the oak trees will mast post-fire, as that will influence how macaques survive future winters and whether they will reproduce and the infants survive in 2023.
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