Primate Populations in the Protected Forests of Maya Archaeological Sites in Southern Mexico and Guatemala

Abstract

The scarcity of information for the primate taxa present in southeast Mexico and the rapid fragmentation and conversion of their natural habitat to pasture lands and agricultural fields at a rate of -1.1% (UNEP, 2004; CCAD, 2003), coupled with pressures from illegal hunting and the trafficking of infants as pets (Duarte and Estrada, 2003), makes the task of conservation of extant primate populations particularly problematic.