The past September 1rst we celebrate International Primate Day, a day to raise awareness about the importance of this charismatic and important group of mammals of which we are part. Every time there is an environmental celebration day my mind reflects on how much we have done to really raise awareness about a specific environmental topic. This week was similar and I was reflecting on my personal work and how much impact I had made through Proyecto Zocay to raise awareness about all the primate species that share our planet with us, but especially the ones in my study area… and I have to recognize that there is still too much to do and so much to learn from them…

In a world in which all our activities impact the lives of so many primates around us and how they found strategies to adapt to the challenges they face by living close to us, it is also inevitable that we found conflict between humans and primates…For me is always challenging to mediate those conflicts, especially when I know the behavior monkeys does, like crop feeding is just their strategy to compensate for the loss of resources in an area caused by deforestation. However, I also understand the frustration and need local people in areas close to forest have to growth their crops to eat and get financial resources for their lives. For me it is always a difficult situation that requires understanding and empathy for both people and monkeys…

Despite all the efforts around the world to protect primates, most of the species are threatened in some way due to our economic activities and it seems the actions we are taking are not enough or not at a speed enough to allow many species to recover. So, what else we can do… I guess keep trying and do the best we can for the primates living near to us, even if that sometimes looks like it is not enough. Keep raising awareness and keep educating others about how smart and important primates are for our forest. Talking about their threats and searching for solutions together is part of raising awareness about primates’ conservation, support research so we understand better how they relate with their environment and how they behave and keep sharing the stories of the people working with and for them…

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