The 25 most endangered primates in the world have been identified in a new report released by the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity COP11 earlier today. The report, titled “Primates in Peril: The World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates 2012-2014,” was created by the Primate Specialist Group of IUCN’s Species Survival Commission (SSC) and the International Primatological Society (IPS), in collaboration with Conservation International (CI) and the Bristol Conservation and Science Foundation (BCSF).

Primates are the closest living relatives of humans, and the majority of them are rapidly moving towards extinction as their populations and environments are reduced, primarily by humans. All of the world’s apes, monkeys, and ‘true’ lemurs are nearing the brink, and a large number of them have already lost so much genetic diversity that it almost seems inevitable that they will become extinct in the not too distant future. In particular, many rare subspecies of apes are nearing the brink, including the lion-eating Bili Apes (chimps).

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