Sulawesi is one of the biodiversity hotspots due to its location within the Wallacea. The 7 endemic macaque species are of extraordinary importance for the understanding of primate evolution, but little is known about them from the wild. Due to habitat destruction and poaching, all are threatend by extinction with crested macaques being critically endangered. (IUCN Red List 2011). We thus aim at improving protection of crested macaques through
- building up a biological data base,
- environmental education programs for Indonesian students, rangers and villagers,
- action in the research area to reduce illegal logging and hunting.