Barbary Macaques are considered an endangered species (classified in Appendix II of the Washington Convention).


A recent estimate of the wild population in Algeria and Morocco was as low as 10,000 monkeys (down from 23,000 in 1978).

Monkey Forest is strongly committed to the protection of the species by : Giving people the opportunity to observe Barbary Macaques in a setting very similar to their natural habitat, and raising public awareness of the need to protect them, developing educational information on the monkeys (guides, video, inter-active boards, information centre), creating and preserving an invaluable genetic pool with the population in the park and strengthening the wild populations by re-introducing entire groups of monkeys.

Over 600 Barbary macaques (from our three sister parks) have already been successfully re-introduced into the Atlas Mountain in Morocco, their natural habitat..

Other important and urgent measures are the conservation of the species natural habitat and restricting the impact of mankind (deforestation, competition with cattle, and the exploitation of monkeys in the pet trade).