Calif. Hunter
Active member
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Humanity's closest relative the chimpanzee
could be
extinct in around 50 years because it is hunted for meat and
threatened by
deforestation and disease, researchers said on Tuesday.
Only 8,000 remain of the most vulnerable chimpanzee subspecies, the
Pan troglodytes
vellerosus, which is found predominantly in Nigeria, and it could be
extinct in two
decades, according to a study.
The study was presented at a conference of The Pan African Sanctuaries
Alliance
(PASA) in Johannesburg. PASA sanctuaries care for orphaned or injured
great apes.
"It is believed that the illegal hunting and eating of apes -- known
as the
bushmeat crisis -- has had the greatest impact on the rate of decline,
along with
deforestation, human encroachment and disease," PASA said in a
statement.
"The situation is much more critical than we thought," said Norm
Rosen, an
anthropologist at California State University-Fullerton who
coordinated the study.
The study used the rate of orphans brought by people to sanctuaries to
calculate
the loss of chimpanzees in the wild -- and showed a dramatic increase
in the number
of baby chimps losing their parents.
Rosen's study -- which estimates that 10 chimpanzees in the wild are
killed for
every orphan that reaches a sanctuary -- predicts that the vellerosus
subspecies
will become extinct in the next 17-23 years.
The other three chimpanzee subspecies face slightly better odds, but
all are
expected to disappear in 41-53 years, at current rates of decline.
"The numbers at the sanctuaries don't lie. You don't get the kind of
steady stream
of orphaned chimpanzees we're seeing without a devastating drop in the
wild
population," said Rosen.
Chimpanzees are found in western, central and eastern Africa.
The 19 PASA sanctuaries currently care for approximately 670
chimpanzees, a number
that has risen by more than 50 percent in the last three years.
The study is the latest to sound the alarm about the fate of the great
apes, which
consist of chimps, gorillas, bonobos and the orangutans of Asia.
One recent UN study said less than 10 percent of the forest home of
Africa's great
apes will be left relatively undisturbed by 2030 if road building,
construction of
mining camps and other infrastructure developments continue at current
levels.
could be
extinct in around 50 years because it is hunted for meat and
threatened by
deforestation and disease, researchers said on Tuesday.
Only 8,000 remain of the most vulnerable chimpanzee subspecies, the
Pan troglodytes
vellerosus, which is found predominantly in Nigeria, and it could be
extinct in two
decades, according to a study.
The study was presented at a conference of The Pan African Sanctuaries
Alliance
(PASA) in Johannesburg. PASA sanctuaries care for orphaned or injured
great apes.
"It is believed that the illegal hunting and eating of apes -- known
as the
bushmeat crisis -- has had the greatest impact on the rate of decline,
along with
deforestation, human encroachment and disease," PASA said in a
statement.
"The situation is much more critical than we thought," said Norm
Rosen, an
anthropologist at California State University-Fullerton who
coordinated the study.
The study used the rate of orphans brought by people to sanctuaries to
calculate
the loss of chimpanzees in the wild -- and showed a dramatic increase
in the number
of baby chimps losing their parents.
Rosen's study -- which estimates that 10 chimpanzees in the wild are
killed for
every orphan that reaches a sanctuary -- predicts that the vellerosus
subspecies
will become extinct in the next 17-23 years.
The other three chimpanzee subspecies face slightly better odds, but
all are
expected to disappear in 41-53 years, at current rates of decline.
"The numbers at the sanctuaries don't lie. You don't get the kind of
steady stream
of orphaned chimpanzees we're seeing without a devastating drop in the
wild
population," said Rosen.
Chimpanzees are found in western, central and eastern Africa.
The 19 PASA sanctuaries currently care for approximately 670
chimpanzees, a number
that has risen by more than 50 percent in the last three years.
The study is the latest to sound the alarm about the fate of the great
apes, which
consist of chimps, gorillas, bonobos and the orangutans of Asia.
One recent UN study said less than 10 percent of the forest home of
Africa's great
apes will be left relatively undisturbed by 2030 if road building,
construction of
mining camps and other infrastructure developments continue at current
levels.
