Most Primate Species Threatened With Extinction, Scientists Find

Carl Zimmer

MATTER JAN. 18, 2017

Clockwise from top left: a juvenile gorilla, Hainan gibbon; golden lion tamarin; Yunnan snub-nosed monkey, gorilla and 4-month old baby and adult gorilla. Center left, a black-and-white ruffed lemur; center right, a crested black macaque ape.

Our fellow primates are in trouble.

In a study of unprecedented scope, a team of 31 primatologists has analyzed every known species of primate to judge how they are faring. The news for man’s closest animal relatives is not good.

Three-quarters of primate species are in decline, the researchers found, and about 60 percent are now threatened with extinction. From gorillas to gibbons, primates are in significantly worse shape now than in recent decades because of the devastation from agriculture, hunting and mining. Read more.