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Primates On the Brink

They are mankinds closest living relatives thinking, feeling beings that use their hands as we do to shape their surroundings and hold their offspring. Their calls and songs echo through the trees, and we can see some of ourselves in their eyes.

Yet the worlds primatesgreat apes, monkeys, lemurs, and othersare among the most persecuted of species. Hunters kill them for meat, traders capture them for live sale, and loggers, farmers and developers destroy the tropical forests where they live.

A new report titled, "Primates in Peril: The Worlds 25 Most Endangered Primates 2004-2006" shows these vibrant creatures face increasing peril, and some could soon disappear forever. Compiled by more than 50 experts from 16 countries, the report reveals that 25 percentone in fourof the 625 primate species and subspecies are at risk of extinction.

The 48-page document issued by the Primate Specialist Group of IUCN-The World Conservation Unions Species Survival Commission (SSC) and the International Primatological Society (IPS), in collaboration with Conservation International (CI), makes clear that failure to respond will bring the first primate extinctions in over a century.

More and more, mankinds closest living relatives are being cornered into shrinking areas of tropical forest, CI President Russell A. Mittermeier said.

Mittermeier, who also chairs the IUCN-SSC Primate Specialist Group, witnessed the scope of the problem on a recent trip to Indonesias Mentawai Islands off Sumatra.

"Although these four small islands cover only about 7,000 square kilometers (slightly larger than the state of Delaware), they have an amazing seven endemic primates, including an entire genus Simias, the pig-tailed langur that is Critically Endangered," he said. "Incredibly, these tiny islands are still being logged, and the monkeys occurring there are still hunted for food."

Mittermeier also noted that on Madagascar, more than half the lemurs found nowhere 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 planets natural heritage forever," he said.

The report is the third to list the 25 most endangered primates, following similar reports in 2000 and 2002. Once again, the main message is that threats to primate survival are increasing.

Although the 25 cited primates are found in 17 countries in Africa, Asia and South America, they all face similar threats such as deforestation, hunting and illegal live animal trade. In many cases, poverty exacerbates the problems.

Only several dozen golden-headed langurs of Vietnam and Hainan black-crested gibbons in China are known to exist. The Perriers sifaka of Madagascar and Tana River red colobus of Kenya are found in small, shrinking tracts of forest.

The Sumatran orangutan, one of 15 three-time losers that appears on all of the 25 most endangered primates lists, numbers in the low thousands but is disappearing at a faster rate than other primates. Now, the December tsunamis that devastated coastal Sumatra have triggered a possible new threat to orangutan habitat from resettlement of area residents.

Habitat loss due to the clearing of tropical forests for agriculture, logging, and the collection of fuel wood is the greatest threat to primates, according to the report. Hunting for subsistence and commercial purposes is a major problem, especially in Africa and Asia. Live capture for the pet trade also poses a serious threat in Asia.

"Southeast Asias primates are subject to relentless poaching because of the profits to be made from the illegal trade," said Chantal Elkin, manager of the Threatened Species Program in CIs Center for Applied Biodiversity Science. "Although some of the regions threatened primates are taken as pets notably orangutans and gibbons they are most often hunted and traded for use in traditional medicines. Most of this trade appears to be international, primarily to China."

As "Flagship Species" and our closest living relatives, nonhuman primates are important to the health of their surrounding ecosystems. Through the dispersal of seeds and other interactions with their environments, primates help support a wide range of plant and animal life that make up the Earths forests.

All 25 primates on the 2004-2006 list are found in the worlds biodiversity hotspots 34 regions identified by Conservation International that cover just 2.3 percent of the Earths land surface but harbor well over 50 percent of all terrestrial plant and animal diversity.

The Worlds 25 Most Endangered Primates, and the countries where they are found:

Greater bamboo lemur (Prolemur simus)
Madagascar

White-collared lemur (Eulemur albocollaris)
Madagascar

Perriers sifaka (Propithecus perrieri)
Madagascar

Silky sifaka (Propithecus candidus)
Madagascar

Eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei)
Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Uganda

Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli)
Nigeria, Cameroon

Mt. Rungwe galago (an as yet undescribed form of the genus Galagoides)
Tanzania

Tana River red colobus (Procolobus rufomitratus)
Kenya

White-naped mangabey (Cercocebus atys lunulatus)
Ghana, Ivory Coast

Sanje mangabey (Cercocebus sanjei)
Tanzania

Bioko red colobus (Procolobus pennantii pennantii)
Equatorial Guinea (Island of Bioko)