Today, at the United Nations’ Convention on Biological Diversity, researchers with the International Union for Conservation of Nature unveiled a report detailing the world’s 25 most endangered primates — mankind’s most biologically similar living relatives.
Top photo of Grauer’s gorilla by Dean Jacobs, via
The report was compiled in cooperation with the International Primatological Society, Conservation International and Bristol Conservation and Science Foundation. You can read the full report here, but we’ve included the list below for your perusal. Included in the list are nine primate species from Asia, six from Madagascar, five from Africa and five from the Neotropics.
It’s worth pointing out that of the nine primate species included on the list released by IUCN in 2010 that were removed for the 2012 list, only one species’ lot is believed to have improved. From the report:
The changes made in this list compared to the previous iteration… were not because the situation of the nine species that were dropped has improved. In some cases, such as, for example, Varecia variegata, the situation has in fact worsened. By making these changes we intend rather to highlight other, closely related species enduring equally bleak prospects for their future survival. An exception may be the greater bamboo lemur, Prolemur simus, for which recent studies have confirmed a considerably larger distribution range and larger estimated population size than previously assumed. The severe threats to this species in eastern Madagascar remain, though.
[IUCN]
