Water Wars Among Monkeys As Relentless Heat Dries Ponds in MP Forests

Bhopal: Conflict among humans over water in summer is not new, but, conflict among animal has been unheard of till date.

In a shocking incident, as many as 15 monkeys have died due to heat stroke after another groups of moneys apparently denied them access to a river. The incident occurred in the west central jungle of Madhya Pradesh’s Dewas district, the forest department said.

This entire region has been baking in 45+ degree heat for the past few weeks.

Nine Rhesus monkeys were found dead in Joshi Baba area of Punjapura forest range in Dewas district on Thursday, June 6. While another six emaciated bodies were found the next day. A cowherd spotted the carcasses on Friday and rushed to the nearby beat office. The alarm went out and senior forest officers hurried to the scene.

According to the State Forest Department officials, a group of large and stronger monkeys numbering around 50-60 was found to be ‘guarding’ the nearby pouni (pond), a tributary of Kali Sindh river, divisional forest officer (DFO) Dewas PN Mishra said on Saturday. The stretch of river was only 800 meters away from the spot where the dead monkeys were found.

“The water source was barely a few hundred meters from the cave where this group of monkeys lived. However, due to the dominance of another group, this group could not access the water source. To protect themselves from the heat, many monkeys entered the cave, but the rocks became hotter in high mercury. Some of the weaker monkeys couldn’t get out of the cave, where they died,” DFO Mishra said.

Also read: Close to 4,000 Madhya Pradesh Villages Stare at Acute Drought

Now, ample amount of water has been arranged near the caves inhabited by the smaller group of monkeys, which was hit by the mysterious deaths, he added.

The river had dried up in many places and according to locals, the group of bigger monkeys was seen chasing away others who tried to drink the remaining water in the river.

There are five to six groups of monkeys in the region where the deaths occurred. Foresters are surprised that territorial fights, or as in this case, a fight over water, could get so violent among monkeys.

The Forest Department are probing all possibilities of death including possibilities of conflict between groups of monkeys for water in the forest as well as contagious diseases.

The initial autopsy done by veterinary experts has revealed that the monkeys died of multi-organ failure due to dehydration, following hyperthermia (extremely high body temperature) but the forest department is also sending the viscera samples for further analysis to lab in Sagar district to ascertain the possibility of any contagious disease having caused their death.

“The conflict over water among group of monkeys is rare and strange, particularly as herbivores don’t indulge in such conflicts,” Misha added.

“Deers are most sensitive to heat and water scarcity but none among their population has died in the same jungles. It’s really mysterious as to how only one group of monkey died, meters away from the water body,” he said.