1/4 OF WORLD’S PRIMATES FACE EXTINCTION

[Anonymous]

Nearly One Quarter of World’s Primates Face Extinction

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (April 05) – Human activities such
as hunting and logging have driven nearly one quarter of the world’s primate
species – man’s closest living relatives – to the brink of extinction, according
to a new report.

Without concerted action, great apes such as the Sumatran
orangutan of Indonesia and the Eastern gorilla of central Africa are at risk of
disappearing, according to the report to be released Thursday by the World
Conservation Union, the International Primatological Society and Conservation
International.

It said Madagascar and Vietnam each have four primates on
the list of 25 most endangered. Brazil and Indonesia have three. Sri Lanka and
Tanzania have with two each. Colombia, China, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Equatorial
Guinea, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, and Congo have one each.

“The situation for these primates is down to the wire in
terms of extinction,” said Russell A. Mittermeier, president of Conservation
International. “If you took all the individuals on the list and gave them a seat
in a soccer stadium, they probably wouldn’t fill it,” he said in a telephone
interview from Madagascar, where primate specialists are meeting.

While listing 25 species as most endangered, the report
said that one in four of the 625 primate species and subspecies are at risk.
Fifty experts from 16 countries cited deforestation, commercial hunting for meat
and the illegal animal trade – including for use in traditional medicines – as
the biggest threats

[Author]

April 11, 2005 at 9:47 AM