THE majority of the world鈥檚 primates are in deep trouble. There are as few as 20 or 30 Hainan gibbons left in China, and the trapdoor of extinction is gaping for the Javan slow loris. Even numbers of Madagascar鈥檚 iconic ring-tailed lemur have slumped to around 2000.
These could be the next primates to disappear from our planet. But overall, the picture is even bleaker, with 60 per cent of all primate species globally predicted to vanish within between 25 and 50 years.
That鈥檚 the gloomy conclusion from the largest ever review of the survival prospects of the world鈥檚 504 known species of non-human primate, 85 of them discovered since 2000. 鈥淭his paper is a synthesis of the factors, at all scales, that are causing declines and extinctions,鈥� says Anthony Rylands of Conservation International, joint lead author of the report (Science Advances, e1600946).
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The biggest harbinger of doom is clearance of forests for agriculture, both by local farmers and by big agro-industrial producers of commodities such as palm oil and rubber. Between 1990 and 2010, for example, agricultural expansion into primate habitats was estimated at 1.5 million square kilometres, an area three times that of France.
鈥淥ur paper is a plea to address the consequences of destruction and degradation of primate habitats worldwide,鈥� says Rylands.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淢any primate extinctions ahead鈥�