Explore an interactive map of the world鈥檚 endangered primate habitats
Almost 50% of the world鈥檚 634 primate species face extinction, according to a from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Habitat loss is a major cause, but many monkeys and apes are being hunted to extinction for food, especially in forests of south-east Asia.
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鈥淚t鈥檚 cheaper to go into the forest and kill a monkey than to raise a chicken,鈥� says , deputy head of the IUCN鈥檚 species programme and a co-author of the report, released 5 August in Edinburgh at the .
鈥淲e鈥檝e raised concerns for years about primates being in peril, but now we have solid data to show the situation is far more severe than we imagined,鈥� says , president of Conservation International, which co-funded the study.
Danger zones
The areas most at risk are in Vietnam and Cambodia, where 90% of species are being driven to extinction by demand for monkey meat, monkey ingredients for Chinese medicine and baby monkeys as pets.
Most acutely affected are medium-sized monkeys such as gibbons, leaf monkeys and langurs, which are easy for hunters to track down and kill because of their size and the noise they make.
Problems begin when forests start being cleared, enabling hunters to move in and take out the monkeys.
In South America, spider monkeys and capuchin monkeys have been hit hardest.
In Africa, red colobus monkeys are now critically endangered. Eleven of the 13 species assessed were listed as critically endangered or endangered. Two may already be extinct. Bouvier鈥檚 red colobus (Procolobus pennantii bouvieri) hasn鈥檛 been seen for 25 years, while no live Miss Waldron鈥檚 red colobus have been seen since 1978.
鈥淎mong the African species, the great apes such as gorillas and bonobos have always tended to grab the limelight, and even thought they鈥檙e deeply threatened, it is smaller primates such as the red colobus that could die out first,鈥� says Richard Wrangham, president of the International Primatological Society.
Monkey preservation
Huge political efforts are needed now to reverse the impending losses of threatened species, says Vi茅.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 needed is national legislation to protect biodiversity, creation of protected areas with dedicated staff, crackdowns on corruption, and captive breeding programmes,鈥� he says.
But it will be difficult to halt and reverse the damage done by habitat destruction and the hunters. Once habitat is gone, animals have nowhere to go. Also, killing primates rapidly depletes populations, because they have fewer young than many other mammals and take much longer to breed and raise families.
Explore an interactive map of the world鈥檚 endangered primate habitats
