About 29 percent of the world’s 394 primate species are at risk of extinction, according to a report by the World Conservation Union. Threats to primates include hunting for primate meat and bones, the trade in wildlife body parts, and habitat destruction mostly from logging and clearing land for agriculture. The report focused on the 25 most-endangered species, of which 11 are from Asia, 11 from Africa, and three from the Americas. “The situation is worst in Asia, where tropical forest destruction and the hunting and trading of monkeys puts many species at terrible risk,” said Russell Mittermeier, head of Conservation International which also helped with the report. “Some of the new species we discover are endangered from the get go. If you find a new species and it’s living in an area heavily impacted by habitat destruction and hunting, you recognize it’s in trouble.”
