Endangered Species

 


Even though several species of monkeys are fighting for their basic survival on the planet today, the extinction threat for these animals fail to make it to the headlines, like the extinction threat for the animal species like the tigers or the rhinos does. This can be attributed to the fact that there are numerous species and sub-species of monkeys, some of which most of us are not even aware of. One can see a significant variation in the population of different monkey species. Some monkey species are found in abundance in their natural habitat, while some are enlisted as 'Critically Endangered' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Which Species of Monkeys are Considered Endangered?

Even though there are approximately 264 species of monkeys in the world today, the rate at which their number is declining is giving the environmentalists some sleepless nights. The rapid decline over the last decade or so has brought many of these species on the verge of extinction. This decline in monkey population throughout the world can be traced to two important factors - excessive hunting and destruction of habitat. Several monkey species, including the Roloway monkey and the Pennant's red colobus monkey found in Africa, are excessively hunted for their meat, while the species such as the Miss Waldron's Red Colobus are hunted extensively for their skin which has a considerable demand in the international market.

It may be surprising for many, but even today these animals are being killed for the use of their various body parts in traditional medicine. Monkeys as pets are also gaining wide popularity, and hunters have been quick to capitalize on this fact. In a bid to capture these monkeys, hunters use snares which leave them injured, if not trapped, and eventually results in their death. Human encroachment has also resulted in wide scale destruction of habitat. Illegal logging, land clearance for agriculture, expanding human settlements and other such factors are causing the natural habitat of this animal to deplete at an alarming rate, thus leaving them homeless and vulnerable to hunting.


This list includes both - the New World monkeys, belonging to the Ceboidea super-family, and Old World monkeys, belonging to the super-family Cercopithecoidea.