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Primates in dangerHuman activities such as hunting and logging have driven nearly a quarter of the world's primate species - man's closest living relations in the animal kingdom - to the brink of extinction, according to a new report. |
Great apes such as the Sumatran orangutan of Indonesia and the Eastern gorilla of central Africa are at risk of disappearing, according to the report to be released next Thursday by the World Conservation Union, the International Primatological Society and Conservation International. It said Madagascar and Vietnam each have four primate species on the list of 25 most endangered; Brazil and Indonesia have three, followed by Sri Lanka and Tanzania with two each, and one each from Colombia, China, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, and Congo. "The situation for these primates is down to the wire in terms of extinction," said Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservation International. "If you took all the individuals on the list and gave them a seat in a soccer stadium, they probably wouldn't fill it," he said in a telephone interview from Madagascar, where primate specialists are meeting. Primates in Peril: The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates, said that one in four of the 625 primate species and subspecies are at risk of extinction. The report compiled by more than 50 experts from 16 countries cited deforestation, commercial bushmeat hunting and illegal animal trade - including for use in traditional medicines - as the biggest threats. The golden-headed langur of Vietnam and China's Hainan gibbon number only in the dozens. The Horton Plains slender loris of Sri Lanka has been sighted just four times since 1937. Perrier's sifaka of Madagascar and the Tana River red colobus of Kenya are now restricted to tiny patches of tropical forest, leaving them vulnerable to rapid eradication, it warned. This is especially true of Madagascar, one of the planet's biodiversity hotspots that has lost most of its original forest cover, it said. "More than half its lemurs, none found anywhere else in the world, are threatened with extinction. Without immediate steps to protect these unique creatures and their habitat, we will lose more of our planet's natural heritage forever," Mittermeier said. By region, the list includes 10 species from Asia, seven from Africa, four from Madagascar and four from South America. All the animals live in areas declared biodiversity hotspots that cover just 2,3 percent of the planet. - Sapa-AP
Twenty five primates most threatened by extinction |
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