Speakers For The Unspoken: Future of monkeys: not so funny

On October 15^th, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announces that more than 25 species of monkeys and other similar kinds of animal were getting closer to extinction. Those animals are endangered especially on the African and the Asian continent. Are humans the main cause?

The grauer's gorilla, the sclater's black lemur, the pygmy tarsier and the Eastern black-crested gibbon are among the critically endangered species listed in the latest report of the IUCN. The species on the list are located on different continent: nine species are in Asia, six in Madagascar, five in Africa and five in South and Central America[1].

The case of the lemur

Christoph Schwitzer, the head of research at the Bristol Conservation and Science Foundation and an editor of the report reported that “the lemurs are now one of the world's most endangered groups of mammals, after more than three years of political crisis and a lack of effective enforcement in their home country, Madagascar. A similar crisis is happening in South-East Asia, where trade in wildlife is bringing many primates very close to extinction."

The primates were endangered for a long time and, luckily, none of them has disappeared… yet. But with the threat of human, the number of primates is decreasing faster than ever. They are more and more endangered and some of them are almost all gone. For example, after several researches, specialists only count 19 northern sportive lemurs (Lepilemur septentrionalis) in the wild in Madagascar[2].

What about other primates?

On a happier note, the pygmy tarsier (Tarsius pumilus) was declared completely extinct in 2000. In 2008, one gets trapped in Sulawesi, Indonesia. This is how experts were able to continue researches and to find out there was still 3 or 4 of them still alive. Unfortunately, this is a very low number for specie and, like the lemurs, they are in great danger of disappearance.

Human: a real threat for primate

How do humans interfere with those animals life? Among the most common threats there are burning and clearing of tropical forests, the hunting of primates for food and the illegal wildlife trade and more[3]. Without their habitat, most of the species have to find food elsewhere and some will disappears slowly.

The good news

Luckily, there are some actions taken to help those species to survive and to increase for the years to come. In those action, the IUCN listed land and water management, educating people, shifting agriculture, etc. Because of those actions, even if the species are endangered, none of them has completely disappeared, but it gets harder and harder to protect species that has such little amount of them like the northern sportive lemurs.

Even better, some species are discovered. “Amazingly, we continue to discover new species every year since 2000. What is more, primates are increasingly becoming a major ecotourism attraction, and primate-watching is growing in interest” said Russell A. Mittermeier, president of Conservation International and the chairman of the IUCN Species Survival Commission’s primate specialist group.

Despite of all those taken actions to help save primates, it seems that the situation continues to worsen. Losing species is still a huge worry. Even if we are not living on those continents, it shows us that every action we do has a huge impact on the wild life. It is really important to realize all the consequences it has on animals’ life.