Lemur Species may be Approaching Extinction

An international team of researchers have joined forces to help protect Madagascar's native lemur population.

All 101 species of lemurs are endemic to the country, making up 20 percent of the world's primate. However, it's estimated that 90 percent of this species are threatened with extinction.

"This combination of diversity and uniqueness is unmatched by any other country-remarkable considering that Madagascar is only 1.3 to 2.9 percent the size of the Neotropics, Africa, or Asia, the other three landmasses where non-human primates occur," said the researchers, via a press release. 

Lemur populations are also at a great risk for habitat destruction as well as disturbance by humans.

"Native to the shrinking and fragmented tropical and subtropical forests of Madagascar, off Africa's Indian Ocean coast, lemurs are facing grave extinction risks driven by human disturbance of their habitats," Canada's Western University said in a statement, via the release. "Combined with increasing rates of poaching and the loss of funding for environmental programs by most international donors in the wake of the political crisis in Madagascar, challenges to lemur conservation are immense."

Yet according to primatologist Dr. Christoph Schwitzer, head of research at Bristol Zoo Gardens and vice-chair for Madagascar Conservation agency, there is still hope to save those left. Along with Western University primatologist Ian Colquhoun, researchers are working with 18 lemur conservationists from the area to prevent the population from extinction. 

For their research, the team plans on targeting 30 different key sites for lemur conservation that also aim to raise funds via several individual projects.

"Fact is that if we don't act now, we risk losing a species of lemur for the first time since our records began," Schwitzer added, via the release. "Lemurs have important ecological and economic roles and are essential to maintaining Madagascar's unique forests, through seed dispersal and attracting income through ecotourism. Their loss would likely trigger extinction cascades. The importance of the action plan cannot be overstated."

Along with other crucial components of the strategy, it also involves the incorporation of effective management in Madagascar's protected area, long-term research for critical lemur sites and new reserves among local communities.

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More information regarding the findings can be seen via the paper "Averting Lemur Extinctions amid Madagascar's Political Crisis" from the journal Science.