25 Most Endangered Primate Species Could "Fit Into Single Football Stadium"
by Kimberley D. Mok, Montreal, Canada on 10.28.07
Thanks to habitat destruction, poaching and being made into bushmeat, medicines and pets, primates are now facing their first possible extinctions in more than a century, according to a recent report by the US-based environmental group Conservation International. The report's findings show that twenty nine percent of all monkeys, apes and gorilla species are now facing the danger of extinction.
Conservation International's list of the twenty-five most endangered primates includes the Greater bamboo and white-collared lemurs in Madagascar, along with the Sumatran orangutan and a recently discovered Indonesian tarsier. Only a few dozen of the most vulnerable species of listed gibbons and langurs remain, while Miss Waldron's red colobus monkey of West Africa may already be wiped out of existence.
"You could fit all the surviving members of these 25 species in a single football stadium - that's how few of them remain on earth today," said Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservational International's Primate Specialist Group.
"In Central and West Africa primate meat ... is a luxury item for the elite. Here it's even more for medicinal purposes, with most of the more valuable species going to markets in southeastern China."
Mittermeier remarked that the loss of tropical forests and other primate habitats is a major concern in their long-term survival; yet, if reforestation projects were to be included in U.N. programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it could prove to be a "magnificent opportunity" to save both primates and sequester carbon.
He noted that local conservation action could prove just as effective: with only an estimated twenty of southwest China’s Hainan gibbon remaining, regional efforts to bolster their chances of survival could be seen as an example to be emulated elsewhere.
"What they have done, which I find really amazing, is they have local villagers following these groups on a daily basis," Mittermeier said. "We are looking now at applying that in Vietnam, in Madagascar and a few other places."
::Primates in Peril, Conservation International via ::Environmental News Network
See also ::Primates in Peril PDF, ::Major Campaign against Palm Oil, Destroyer of Orangutans
, ::Experts list 25 most endangered primates (see slide show on bushmeat)
Image: Ken Bohn
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Unfortunate that this posting has not gotten a lot of attention. It is always disappointing to look at so many animals disappear!
Unfortunate that so many animals die off. Why is not more attention given to this?
hehehe.. thats a brilliant picture - sweet. :)
yeah - the little monkey looks so cool, like a little monkey-rockstar-singer :)
This is extremely sad.
I hate the way humans think they rule the world. We are part of the whole world, and wiping out entire species only hurts us in the long run.
This is so, so bad. What can I do to save these creatures??
This is such a large planet you would think that our "habits" and "needs" would at least allow at least a small part of nature to be saved to preserve these amazing beings. People are too selfish and do not realize the importance of every single being in our ecosystem. Just in the last few years....how many animals have been moved or are almost moved on the endangered animals list or are already gone forever. I am dreading the day that our children wake up and there is no wild animal life to admire and wonder. AND JUST THINK....even if these animals had a natural cure for illnesses and etc and people keep this up, all the killing...where is your cures now??? stupidity.
It is also true that those same primates, when in football equipment, and led by the right coach, could outplay the Miami Dolphins.
"I am dreading the day that our children wake up and there is no wild animal life to admire and wonder"
I can only hope if we get to that stage that the human population is in the end stage of total collapse.
The only thing you and me can hope for to save this world is a massive deadly outbreak that decimates the human population, that or the collapse of our current food system which i would think may not be that far off given the news circulating lately.
Really great to see Treehugger picking up on this report.
Really great to see Treehugger picking up on this report.
What can be done to save these beautiful creatures
what are these hunters doing anyway thats bad what the are doing cause we are supose to save the animals in the world
who agrees that ?
by johan