More than half of the world's primates on endangered species list

Experts highlight threat to lesser-known apes and monkeys from large-scale habitat destruction and illegal wildlife trade
More than half the world’s primates, including apes, lemurs and monkeys, are facing extinction, international experts warned on Tuesday.
The population crunch is the result of large-scale habitat destruction – particularly the burning and clearing of tropical forests – as well as the hunting of primates for food and the illegal wildlife trade.

Species long known to be at risk, including the Sumatran orangutan, have been joined on the most endangered list for the first time by the Philippine tarsier and the Lavasoa dwarf lemur from Madagascar, scientists meeting in Singapore said.
“This research highlights the extent of the danger facing many of the world’s primates,” Christoph Schwitzer, a leading primatologist and director of conservation at Bristol Zoological Society in Britain, said in a statement.
“We hope it will focus people’s attention on these lesser-known primate species, some of which most people will probably have never heard of.”
This includes the Lavasoa dwarf lemur – a species only discovered two years ago – and the Roloway monkey from Ghana and the Ivory Coast, which experts say “are on the very verge of extinction”.

There are 703 species and sub-species of primates in the world. Madagascar and Vietnam are home to large numbers of highly threatened primate species, the statement said.
In Africa, the red colobus monkey was under particular threat, as were some of South America’s howler monkeys and spider monkeys, it added. “All of these species are relatively large and conspicuous, making them prime targets for bushmeat hunting,” the statement said.
Russell Mittermeier, chair of the species survival commission of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, said he hoped the report would encourage governments to commit to “desperately needed biodiversity conservation measures”.

Below is a list of the world’s top 25 most endangered primates for 2014-2016 and their estimated numbers remaining in the wild, compiled by the IUCN, Bristol Zoological Society, International Primatological Society and Conservation International and updated every two years:

Lavasoa dwarf lemur - unknown
Lac Alaotra bamboo lemur - about 2,500-5,000
Red ruffed lemur - unknown
Northern sportive lemur - around 50
Perrier’s sifaka - 1,700-2,600
Rondo dwarf galago - unknown but remaining habitat is just 40 square miles
Roloway monkey - unknown but thought to be on the very verge of extinction
Preuss’s red colobus monkey - unknown
Tana River red colobus monkey - 1,000 and declining
Eastern lowland gorilla - 2,000-10,000
Philippine tarsier - unknown
Javan slow loris - unknown
Pig-tailed langur - 3,300
Cat Ba langur (golden-headed langur) - 60
Delacour’s langur - 234-275
Tonkin snub-nosed monkey - less than 250
Kashmir grey langur - unknown
Western purple-faced langur - unknown
Hainan gibbon - 25
Sumatran orangutan - 6,600
Ka’apor capuchin - unknown
San Martin titi monkey - unknown
Northern brown howler monkey - less than 250 mature animals
Colombian brown spider monkey - unknown
Ecuadorian brown-headed spider monkey - unknown


Datum: 24/11/2015
Bron: http://www.theguardian.com/environm...ed-species-list
(The Guardian)

Samenvatting: Volgens een recent onderzoek zijn internationale experts tot de conclusie gekomen dat de helft van alle primaten met uitsterven bedreigd is. Soorten die al langer bedreigd waren, zijn nu zelfs bijna volledig verdwenen.

Eigen mening: Dit is het soort artikel dat mij (en hopelijk ook andere mensen) wakkerschudt , ook al is het misschien al te laat. Ik denk dat deze confrontatie met de realiteit vooral komt door de lijst met cijfers op het einde van het artikel. Ik hoop al langer dat de wereld (de mensheid) meer ruimte zou voorzien waar deze dieren ongestoord hun leven kunnen leiden en ondertussen te groeien in aantallen. Zoals het er nu uitziet kan ik daar spijtig genoeg geen vertrouwen in hebben dat dat zal gebeuren, aangezien dit al decennia een probleem is en er relatief weinig actie ondernomen wordt. Het is zeker goed dat ze er onderzoek naar doen en met deze conclusies komen (ook al is de uitkomst meestal niet rooskleurig) maar we moeten nu leren om deze problematiek in de praktijk te verhelpen, voor we al deze mooie soorten primaten voorgoed verloren zijn.