Hannah Pettersson

ANTH-2281-402-sp18

Melissa Schaefer

January 18, 2018

Primates in Peril

Every year more and more primates become endangered and some are close to extinction.

They’re one of the most endangered animals in the world. Every two years, the list of

endangered primates is updated. The most recent edition of this list is the ​Primates in Peril: The

World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates 2014-2016. ​In the reading, it compares the 2014-2016

list to the 2012-2014 list. Since there are so many species of primates, some get taken off the

current list that was on the previous list, and some are added to the new list. Roughly 8 species

on the list get replaced with 8 new ones. Some primates are considered but aren’t as highly

threatened as the others. Each area that has primates lists five primates that are endangered.

Primates main locations are Africa, Madagascar, Asia, and the Neotropics. Just to name 4 out of

the 25 most endangered primates, in Africa, there’s the Grauer’s Gorilla. In Madagascar, there’s

the Red Ruffed Lemur. In Asia, there’s the Sumatran Orangutan. In the Neotropics, there’s the

Northern Brown Howler.

One primate thats endangered and is well known to the Dominican Republic of Congo

area is the Grauer’s Gorilla also known as the Eastern Lowland

Gorilla.(​Mountain-gorilla-in-foliage-eating-leaves.jpg​) These gorillia’s are considered highly

endangered. Threats to these gorillas intensified enormously throughout the 1990’s to the 2000’s.
(Nixon and Williams, 2010,2012, 2014, 24) It’s the largest Gorilla of the four subspecies. It has

a stocky body, large hands, and short muzzle. Theses features help distinguish it from other

Gorillas. They can grow up to 440 pounds and can be as tall as 6 ft when standing on two legs.

They mainly feed on herbs, leaves, bark, lianas and vines, seasonal fruit, insects, and in higher

elevations bamboo. Eastern Lowland Gorillas make their home in the tropical rainforest in

eastern DRC. Mainly in central and eastern Africa. Gorillas move around in families. A

dominant male leads the family for years. The family can range from individuals to more than 40

members. Poaching, diseases like Ebola, and habitat destruction remains a huge threat for

gorillas. Most of them live outside of protected areas. Gorilla are a quickly disappearing

subspecies. Groups like WWF are helping to protect theses gorillas by monitoring them and

expanding protected areas. People can help by adopting a gorilla or donating money to the

foundation.

Red ruffed lemurs(​Red-ruffed-lemur-stretching-hind-leg.jpg​) are confined to the masoala

peninsula in northern madagascar (petter and petter-Rousseaux 1979; tattersall 1982). its fur

varies in color patterns.the length of this lemur is 50-50 cm and a body mass of 3.0-3.6 kg

(Geoffroy 1812, 33; Vasey 2013). It feeds mainly on fruit, supplemented with flowers, nectar,

and leaves. They’re most active during the hot rainy season. The red ruffed lemur is classified as

critically endangered and has a suspect population reduction of 80% within 3 generations. The

main threat to this species is habitat loss and hunting. The only area thats protected where they

live is masoala national park.

The Sumatran Orangutan(​Male-Sumatran-orangutan-swinging-through-trees.jpg​) is

facing immediate threat of extinction and is listed critically endangered(Lesson,1827;

IUCN,2015). They’re extremely vulnerable to extinction. They depend on high-quality forests.

They have a slow reproduction rate. Females give birth to one infant every eight or nine years. If

orangutans were to disappear,several tree species would disappear because they are important to

seed distribution. Habitat loss is a huge threat to this species. It’s mainly due to fire and

conversion of forests to oil palm plantations. Conservationist are concerned that each major

threat is increasing and highly likely to get worse.

In the Neotropics, there’s the Northern Brown Howler(​Brown-howling-monkey.jpg​).

Both sexes are a red-fawned color. They’re known for their loud howling which can be heard for

over 1.6 km. They inhabit lowlands which involves fruit in their diets according to seasonal

availability. Howler monkeys are important seed distributors for several plant species. The

northern brown howler monkey is classified as critically endangered. Their primary threats are

habitation and forest loss, fragmentation due to logging and agriculture, and hunting. Yellow

fever is another threat to these monkeys. A conservation project is taking place for these

monkeys. Researchers and scientists have been surveying and documenting Northern Brown

Howlers to better understand the threats. After months of research they found ten populations

remain in a small but wide separated patches of forest(Humboldt, 1812,83 84).

Primates are constantly being threatened by disease, habitat loss, hunting, and more. One

of the major causes is human activity. I think one of the threat that i’m doing is being a

consumer. Monkeys habitats are being ruined for wood, agriculture, and more. Something that i

could do is use less things involving materials that are taken from their habitats. There is an

option to adopt certain endangered monkeys so they can be protected.

 Work Cite

Schwitzer, C., Mittermeier, R.A., Rylands, A.B., Chiozza, F., Williamson, E.A., Wallis, J. and Cotton, A.

(eds.). 2015. ​Primates in Peril: e World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates 2014-2016​. IUCN SSC Primate

Specialist Group (PSG), International Primatological Society (IPS), Conservation International (CI), and

Bristol Zoological Society, Arlington, VA. iv+93pp.

“Eastern Lowland Gorilla.” ​WWF​, World Wildlife Fund,

www.worldwildlife.org/species/eastern-lowland-gorilla​.

“Eastern gorilla photo.” ​Arkive​,

www.arkive.org/eastern-gorilla/gorilla-beringei/image-G4640.html​.

“Red Ruffed Lemurs photo.” ​Arkive,

http://www.arkive.org/red-ruffed-lemur/varecia-rubra/image-G7268.html

“Orangutan photo”

http://www.arkive.org/sumatran-orangutan/pongo-abelii/image-G4032.html

“Sumatran Orangutan” ​WWF,​ World Wildlife Fund,

https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/sumatran-orangutan

“Brown Howling Monkey” ​Arkive​,

http://www.arkive.org/brown-howling-monkey/alouatta-guariba/image-G34700.html