Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 April 2009
The lion-tailed macaque of southern India is in danger; even in 1963 there were probably fewer than a thousand in the wild. But zoos have found them easy to obtain, and a survey this year showed 79 in US zoos. The author, who is Associate Curator of Mammals at San Diego Zoo, having visited India and seen how precarious was the monkey's situation in the wild, proposed that AAZPA (American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums) should consider starting a captive breeding project using animals already in American zoos. In September 1970 AAZPA agreed to do this and also placed restrictions on imports of the macaque by its members. The author is chairman of the committee that is running the project, and appeals for European and other zoos to take part.