Nature Magazine, August 07, 2008

ALMOST HALF OF PRIMATE SPECIES FACE EXTINCTION

[Rachel's introduction: "We knew the situation was bad, but these numbers are shocking."]

By Matt Kaplan

The first comprehensive review in twelve years on the conservation status of primates is revealing that our closest relatives are in serious danger.

The review, presented today at the 22nd International Primatological Society Congress in Edinburgh, UK, shows that of the 634 known primate species and subspecies, nearly 50% are threatened with extinction in the next decade. That soars to more than 70% in Asia, with individual countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia seeing at least 80% of their primate species threatened. Cambodia was at the top of the list, with 90% of its primate species in imminent danger.

"We knew the situation was bad, but these numbers are shocking - particularly in Southeast Asia," says Mike Hoffman, a specialist in biodiversity assessment at the non-profit environmental advocacy group Conservation International, which played a major part in generating the review.

Studies are conducted constantly on the status of individual species, but collating statistics for so many species at the same time has yielded an unusually clear picture of the global situation. The data strongly suggest that further efforts are desperately needed if mass extinctions of primates are to be avoided.

A key point of concern long known to primatologists is habitat destruction, particularly from the burning and clearing of tropical forests. But researchers were not expecting to discover that hunting, for both food and the sale of primate parts for traditional medicine, is having an even more dramatic effect than previously known.

These findings will probably lead to a change in conservation efforts, as current strategies focus on preserving habitat above all else. Habitat preservation will certainly not be ignored, but programmes developed to educate local communities about the status of the animals that they are eating and selling for medicinal purposes are clearly needed, the report concludes.

Silver lining

But the survey also has good news. It reports that species given considerable conservation resources are beginning to recover, suggesting that the situation can be reversed. Golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia) and black lion tamarins (Leontopithecus chrysopygus) in Brazil, both thought to be doomed thirty years ago, are recovering. Although the species are nowhere near losing their endangered status, as their habitats have been ravaged and are in need of regeneration, they are at least stable.

"The fact that some species are able to rebound following tireless conservation efforts illustrates what can happen when we engage in concerted conservation activity," says primatologist Sylvia Atsalis at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

The mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) is also on the verge of being reclassified as endangered, instead of critically endangered, because the population is increasing. But political chaos in the countries where the species lives -- Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo -- is delaying this shift.

And at the same conference, a separate study revealed a major rise in the population of western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) -- currently classed as endangered -- in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society says that their survey found more than 125,000 gorillas in the northern parts of the country, putting the estimated population at between 175,000 to 225,000.

"The presence alone of scientists has been shown to protect primates, acting as a deterrent to habitat destruction and hunting," says Atsalis. "The more people we can send, the more we can help to protect endangered primates."

Copyright 2008 Nature Publishing Group