Most apes, monkeys and lemurs face wipe-out with some species down to last thousand left in the wild
With 75 per cent of primates threatened by declining populations, many could disappear within next 25 years
MOST species of apes, monkeys and lemurs face extinction, warns a major report.
Conservationists say that some species are down to the last few thousand left in the wild.
In China, there are fewer than 30 Hainan gibbons still alive.
Study co-leader Prof Paul Garber, of the University of Illinois in the US, said: “About 60 per cent of primate species are threatened with extinction and 75 per cent have declining populations.
“This truly is the eleventh hour for many of them.”
He said they face the destruction of habitat for agriculture and industry, hunting, poaching and the illegal pet trade.
He added: “In the next 25 years, many of these primate species will disappear unless we make conservation a global priority.”
Just four countries — Brazil, Indonesia, Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo — host two-thirds of all species of primates, according to the study published in the journal Science Advances.
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Co-author Dr Alejandro Estrada, of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said: “Primates are critically important to humanity.
"They are our closest living biological relatives.”