Report: 60% of Earth’s primate species face extinction

In a massive new study, a group of 31 primatologists reviewed every identified species of primate to evaluate their status and the team found many of them are in crisis.

According to the team’s report in the journal Science Advances, 75 percent of the Earth’s primate species are declining and  60 percent are now facing extinction. The study’s authors concluded primates are in a considerably worse state now than in past decades due to human activities like farming and illegal hunting.

“Forests are destroyed when primate habitat is converted to industrial agriculture, leaving primates with nowhere to live,” study author Jo Setchell from Durham University in the UK, told BBC News. “And primates are hunted for meat and trade, either as pets or as body parts.”

The study also mentioned economic hardship and civil unrest as a major drive for hunting, with many people hunting primates to be able to put food in the table.

“We need to focus on the development of these parts of the world and make sure people have an alternative source of protein,” said co-author Serge Wich from Liverpool John Moores University in England.

Loss of Forests Tied to Loss of Primates

He added the decrease in primate species also showed a significant loss of forests that are crucial for the future of our society.

“These forests provide essential services for people,” Wich said. “They help by being carbon stocks to mitigate climate change; they help in providing clean water and pollination services for people, so they can grow their crops.”

The scientists also noted there are some choices we make as consumers that impact the livelihood of the world’s primate populations, especially when it comes to stopping tropical deforestation.

“Simple examples are: don’t buy tropical timber and don’t eat palm oil,” Setchell said. “(W)e need to raise local, regional and global public awareness of the plight of the world’s primates and what this means for ecosystem health, human culture, and ultimately human survival.

“In industrialized nations, we must decrease our demand for resources that we don’t need, and stop confusing wants with needs,” she added.

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Image credit: Thinkstock

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