Nearly half of all primate species face extinction. Some are being literally being eaten into distinction.
Edouard of “Sustainable Develop and Much More…” blog sent me a link to an article Nearly half of primates are in danger of becoming extinct, highlighting this problem. The two major reasons why primate populations are being threatened: habitat loss through logging and hunting for bushmeat and the illegal wildlife trade.
According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN):
- Overall, 303 of the 634 species and sub-species – 48% – are listed in the most threatened categories: vulnerable, endangered and critically endangered.
- Africa – 63 species or subspecies are in the top three categories (37% of African primates). Eleven of thirteen kinds of red colobus monkey are critically endangered or endangered. Two – Bouvier’s red colobus and Miss Waldron’s red colobus – may already be extinct.
- Asia – 120 species or sub-species are threatened (71%). In Vietnam and Cambodia, 90% are considered at risk.
- Madagascar - 41 species and sub-species are threatened (43%).
- Mexico, south and central America – 79 species and sub-species are listed as threatened (40%).
In case you think the problem is just ”over there”, watch the video of bushmeat illegally smuggled into the United States.
Posted with vodpod
Resources:
- Bushmeat Crisis Task Force
- International Union for the Conservation of Nature
- Quest: Bushmeat in the Bay Area
- Sustainable Development and Much More…Nearly half of primates are in danger of becoming extinct
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Welcome to Verda Vivo. My name is Daryl Warner Laux.
For more about Madagascar specifically, your readers might be interested in The Bronx Zoo’s exhibit that has just opened. It is titled Madagascar and can give just a small taste of the abundance of wildlife that exists there and is being threatened. For those who are unable to go or just want a good listen, the New York Academy of Sciences just released a Podcast speaking with the director of the Madagascar program that is also very informative. You can listen to that here.
Mike, Thanks for the links. For all our sakes I hope we don’t lose these treasures. We need to conserve these animal in all their complexity and variety. If we become too successful as a species, does that inevitably lead to the extinction of many other species either out of greed or ignorance? I hope not. ~ Daryl