Spider Monkeys are a key part of the tropical Central and South American ecosystems. They have a population size of merely 2,000 across the world, living in small packs across the tropical rainforests of the Americas. They are incredibly intelligent, but tragically, they have become endangered due to the devastating effects of climate change. That’s why I’m calling on the UN to create a law protecting this newly endangered species.

While indigenous populations are responsible for the overhunting of spider-monkeys, the more devastating cause of their endangerment is deforestation. Deforestation causes the homes of spider-monkeys to be destroyed, leaving spider-monkeys with no habitat and no food. Essential abiotic factors in their environment such as water sources are lost due to human interference. This has an extremely negative impact on their population, especially considering other limiting factors such as food availability and the presence of predators.

However, an arguably greater threat to spider-monkeys is Global Warming. Due to the burning of nonrenewable resources fossil fuels, causing the emissions of greenhouse gases, the planet is now heating faster than ever. Eric Post and graduate student Ruscena Wiederholt  from Penn State found that Climate Change is projected to increase ENSO (the El Niño Southern Oscillation) events, where waters in the southern hemisphere are expected to increase in temperature. ENSO events would increase incidents of droughts, floods, and severe storms, creating a dangerous world for spider monkeys and any animals who live in tropical areas. All of these factors decrease the spider-monkey’s carrying capacity to a startlingly low level, as their increasingly strained environment struggles to support them.

While the extinction of a single species is sad enough, it has devastating implications for the entire ecosystem. Spider-Monkeys are essential to the rainforest’s food chain. They are prey to many animals, including jaguars, cheetahs, snakes, pumas, eagles and ocelots. Without spider monkeys all of these creatures would lose a source of food. However, the most important role of spider monkeys is their symbiotic relationship with trees. They eat the fruits from trees and help scatter the seeds of these trees through their droppings. Most trees rely on spider monkeys to distribute their seeds, for trees that grow too close to other trees are much less likely to survive. Therefore with the extinction of spider-monkeys, the tree population suffers and so do the populations of every animals that rely on the trees, and then the populations of the animals that rely on those animals. Food webs and symbiotic relationships create complex ties between animals that rarely interact, creating a world where the extinction of a single species can be devastating for an entire ecosystem.

Luckily, there is something we can do. By pushing for the protection of these animals, we can ensure that the government creates conservations for spider-monkeys, and monitors their populations. Ecological succession also creates a future where the rainforests could one day be restored. The situation was seen in Madagascar, as the forests were given time new plants eventually replaced the old and once abandoned niches were filled. If we ensure that these forests are no longer destroyed and given the time they need to grow back, and spider-monkeys are protected until this occurs, we could see a bright future for all animals living in South America. So I urge you to sign this petition, to call the UN to grant these beloved animals protection.