There is a significant difference in vegetation between the reserve areas and the jungle outside of it. However, areas of the Reserve have been damaged as it is carved in disconnected patches. In many areas, tapirs, howler monkeys and parrots are already gone. Reserve managers say even small-scale development within the conservation area is a threat, since its natural balance has been altered over the centuries. According to Conservation International, there are 140 peasant settler communities in the Biosphere Reserve and 225 including those in other protected areas in the Lacandon. All but thirty two of these have a certain amount of legal protection as they were registered as ejidos before the Reserve was created.