Post by Jeff on Jan 10, 2006 0:34:37 GMT -5
One-fourth of the world's 625 primate species and subspecies could be extinct within 20 years, according to a recent report by the Primate Specialist Group of IUCN-The World Conservation Union's Species Survival Commission and the International Primatological Society, in collaboration with Conservation International.
The animals' greatest threats are habitat loss due to agriculture and logging, hunting for food and traditional medicines, and capture for the pet trade.
Some species, such as Perrier's sifaka and the Tana River red colobus are restricted to tiny islands of tropical forest in Madagascar and Kenya, respectively. More than half of Madagascar's lemurs—which can be found nowhere else on the planet—are at risk of extinction because the island has lost more than 90 percent of its original forest cover.
The report highlights 25 of the most endangered primates around the world—ten from Asia, seven from Africa, four from Madagascar, and four from South America. Several primate species and subspecies—including Eastern and Cross River gorillas, black-faced lion tamarins, Delacour's langurs, Hainan black-crested gibbons, and Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys—number fewer than 1,000 individuals.
Thanks in large part to conservation efforts, no primate species were known to have gone extinct in the 20th century. Our closest living relatives may not be so lucky this century.
The animals' greatest threats are habitat loss due to agriculture and logging, hunting for food and traditional medicines, and capture for the pet trade.
Some species, such as Perrier's sifaka and the Tana River red colobus are restricted to tiny islands of tropical forest in Madagascar and Kenya, respectively. More than half of Madagascar's lemurs—which can be found nowhere else on the planet—are at risk of extinction because the island has lost more than 90 percent of its original forest cover.
The report highlights 25 of the most endangered primates around the world—ten from Asia, seven from Africa, four from Madagascar, and four from South America. Several primate species and subspecies—including Eastern and Cross River gorillas, black-faced lion tamarins, Delacour's langurs, Hainan black-crested gibbons, and Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys—number fewer than 1,000 individuals.
Thanks in large part to conservation efforts, no primate species were known to have gone extinct in the 20th century. Our closest living relatives may not be so lucky this century.