Mankind's closest living relatives -the world's apes, monkeys,
lemurs and other primates - are under unprecedented threat of
extinction, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) said on Friday.
In a new report, the Swiss-based organization said that nearly
one-third of the world's 394 primate species are now in danger of
going extinct, mainly due to destruction of tropical forests,
illegal wildlife trade and commercial hunting.
The report provided a list of the world's 25 most endangered
primates. It noted that one of the 25 primate species, red colobus
of Ivory Coast and Ghana, is already feared extinct, while the
golden-headed langur of Vietnam and China's Hainan gibbon number
only in the dozens.
"You could fit all the surviving members of these 25 species in
a single football stadium; that's how few of them remain on Earth
today," said Russell Mittermeier, chairman of the IUCN's Primate
Specialist Group.
"The situation is worst in Asia, where tropical forest
destruction and the hunting and trading of monkeys puts many
species at terrible risk. Even newly discovered species are
severely threatened from loss of habitat and could soon disappear,"
he said.
As "flagship species" and mankind's closest living relatives,
primates are important to the health of their surrounding
ecosystems, according to the IUCN.
Through the dispersal of seeds and other interactions with their
environments, primates help support a wide range of plant and
animal life that makes up the Earth's forests.
"By protecting the world's remaining tropical forests, we save
primates and other endangered species while preventing more carbon
dioxide from entering the atmosphere to warm the climate," Russell
Mittermeier noted.
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(Xinhua News Agency October 27, 2007)
