Mankind's closest living relatives in peril

Image: Western hoolock gibbon (Hoolock hoolock), found in Bangladesh, India and Myanmar
Photographs: CI/photo by Russell A Mittermeier

Mankind's closest living relatives -- the world's apes, monkeys, lemurs and other primates -- are on the brink of extinction and in need of urgent conservation measures.

According to a report -- Primates in Peril: The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates, 2008-2010 -- compiled by 85 experts from across the world, nearly half of all primate species are now in danger of becoming extinct from destruction of tropical forests, illegal wildlife trade and commercial bushmeat hunting.

The list includes five primate species from Madagascar, six from Africa, 11 from Asia, and three from Central and South America, all of which are the most in need of urgent conservation action.

Almost half (48 percent) of the world's 634 primate species are classified as threatened with extinction on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The report was compiled by the Primate Specialist Group of IUCN's Species Survival Commission (SSC) and the International Primatological Society (IPS), in collaboration with Conservation International. Click on NEXT to see some endangered primates...