Nearly half of all the world's primates at risk of extinction

[Bonobo]

Source: Guardian.co.uk

The picture in south-east Asia is particularly bleak, where 71% of all Asia primates are now listed as threatened, and in Vietnam and Cambodia, 90% are considered at risk. Populations of gibbons, leaf monkeys and langurs have dropped due to rapid habitat loss and hunting to satisfy the Chinese medicine and pet trade.

"We've raised concerns for years about primates being in peril, but now we have solid data to show the situation is far more severe than we imagined," said Dr Russell Mittermeier, the chairman of the IUCN Species Survival Commission's primate specialist group and the president of Conservation International.

"What is happening in south-east Asia is terrifying," said Dr Jean-Christophe Vié, the deputy head of the IUCN species programme. "To have a group of animals under such a high level of threat is, quite frankly, unlike anything we have recorded among any other group of species to date."

"Tropical forest destruction has always been the main cause, but now it appears that hunting is just as serious a threat in some areas, even where the habitat is still quite intact. In many places, primates are quite literally being eaten to extinction."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/05/endangeredspecies.conservation

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[tekisui]

1. Damn, I was hoping humans were on that list.

:D

[carp]

8. I like people. NT

[tekisui]

11. I like a lot of individual people.

But, as a species, we are murderers. We murder other species, we murder each other, we murder the planet.

The planet and it's other species would be better off without us.

[CubicleGuy]

12. Not to be rude...

The planet and it's other species would be better off without us.

You go first.

[ConcernedCanuk]

16. The planet and it's other species would be better off without us -

.
.
.

Sadly -

You are 100% correct.

No species on Earth does more damage than us humans

And there is not ONE species that depends on us for their survival.

So the whole idea that "God" put us here sort of baffles me..

Sumthing to ponder . . .

[Demeter]

9. I'm Sure We Are, Just Not "Officially"

You know how to lie with statistics--first, suppress them!

[bighughdiehl]

2. Could we be among them?

That's a handsome fella at the bottom. What species?

[Bonobo]

4. Interestingly, that's a rare piece of (small but) good news.

Scientists from the World Wide Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Conservation International, discovered the largest known population of rare Grey-Shanked Doucs in a remote part of Vietnam. The Grey-Shanked Doucs is considered one of the 25 most endangered primates. The species has only been recorded in the five central Vietnamese provinces.

Thus the discovery of over 100 of these primates is fantastic news! It really raises hopes that endangered monkeys can be saved from extinction. What’s more as only a small part of the area has been surveyed, scientists believe that there may be significantly more Grey-Shanked Doucs living in the adjacent forest. Lets hope that there is!



http://dearkitty.blogsome.com/2007/07/03/endangered-grey-shanked-douc-monkeys-discovered-in-vietnam/

[GoddessOfGuinness]

3. How long before it's us?

How long before we end the destruction? :(

[Bonobo]

5. We will be here after the last wild Bonobo, Orang, Chimp and Gorilla are gone.

But we shouldn't.

:(

[GoddessOfGuinness]

10. If we are,

we'll wish we weren't.

[nam78_two]

14. Quite sad.nt

[flamingdem]

6. How incredibly sad and what beautiful creatures and interesting primates thanks nt

[AllHereTruth]

7. Message to our leaders

Don't dare speak up Dems, for you will appear a tree hugger.

Don't dare act on this, for you will appear a liberal.

Just let them die quietly and in silence, then cry after the fact. It works. You have shown that.

[nam78_two]

13. K&R-terrible.nt

[Matilda]

15. Human beings are the only species that deliberately destroy their own habitat.

We truly don't deserve to be here.

In the past couple of weeks we've had news of the huge natural gas and oil reserves that are sitting
under the Arctic sea ice, and also the warnings that the ice is melting even faster than scientists
had predicted.

And you just know that governments and corporations are only going to be looking at one problem:
"how can we get the oil and gas out faster?"

It fills me with despair - not so much for people, but for the animals and birds.

[Zhade]

17. Some days it just doesn't pay to be alive.

:(