Report Says Most Lemurs Living on the Edge of Extinction

A new survey shows lemurs are far more threatened than previously thought.

A group of specialists is in Madagascar – the only place where lemurs are found in the wild – to systematically assess the animals and decide where they sit on the Red List of Threatened Species.

More than 90 percent of the 103 species should be on the Red List, they say.

The assessment, conducted by the Primate Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), concludes that 23 lemurs qualify as ‘critically endangered’ – the highest class of threat.

Some species are down to less than two dozen animals. Host Lisa Mullins talks with Russ Mittermeier, of Conservation International, who’s in Madagascar.

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Lisa Mullins: Madagascar is known around the world as the one place on earth where lemurs live, and the small, fuzzy, bug eyed primates definitely have a cute factor going for them. But Madagascar’s lemurs are in deep trouble. Some species are down to just about a handful of animals. The main problem is the loss of habitat. Huge tracks of forests in the African island nation have been cut down for hardwood and to facilitate mining. Scientists meeting in Madagascar say 9 out of 10 species are threatened, more than first thought. Conservation International’s president, Russ Mittermeier is there. He says 23 lemur species are critically endangered, the highest level of threat.

Russ Mittermeier: Critically endangered means they’re on the verge of extinction and that one of the most indicative species of this is this little animal called the Northern Sportive lemur, which is down to as far as we know, down to 17 individuals in the wild. Maybe we’ll find a few more, but the habitat is extremely limited, so we really have to focus our attention on protecting these last animals.

Mullins: So how did these animals get so bad so quickly?

Mittermeier: Well, I think a lot of it is due to this political change in March of 2009, the coup that took place because at the end of 2008 I was on the verge of writing a paper saying Madagascar: The Incipient Success Story, but following the coup there was a breakdown of enforcing and control. There was an invasion of some of the most important protected areas in the country to extract rosewood and other valuable timbers, and an upsurge in hunting of lemurs, tortoises, just about anything that people could hunt.

Mullins: Are other governments pitching in? Are they investing? Are they helping to support this depletion of the lemur species?

Mittermeier: Well, unfortunately, after the coup many governments suspended their support for conservation here, so it’s really a rather depressing situation. And we’re fighting a holding action right now, really focusing on the local community, demonstrating to them that conservation provides jobs and benefits, and we’re very successful in that.

Mullins: If the lemur is lost, Russ, what else is lost? In other words, why are you focusing attention so much on this particular species?

Mittermeier: If you lose these animals you lose the habitats in which they occur. You lose all the other species that occur with term and you lose the long term potential for economic development based on eco tourism and perhaps more important, you use the critical ecosystem services that are provided by these forests and are absolutely essential for local people…the best example being water, fresh water.

Mullins: The odds sound like there’s so much against at least certain species of lemur. Is there any hope for those particular species? It sounds like it’s gonna be pretty difficult, especially they’re out there in the wild.

Mittermeier: Well, there are many examples of endangered species that have come back from literally from the brink. I mean there are bird species that have come back from 3, 4, 5 individuals. Our own California condor came back from about 25 individuals. So if you bring the right expertise in, if you have the resources available it’s possible to pull just about any species back from the brink of extinction. And there are some real success stories here. There’s an animal called the Great Bamboo Lemur, which is a bamboo specialist. It’s rather like a mini giant panda, and that one a few years ago was down to maybe at best 100-200 individuals. And we really focused on this one now and we’ve found some new populations. We’re protecting the ones that we knew of already, and that one is up to 600 now. So I think that there’s a real opportunity to save what’s essentially the most unique and spectacular primate fauna in the world.

Mullins: All right, thank you. Dr. Russ Mittermeier is president of Conservation International. He’s also Chair of the Primate Specialist Group for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which is meeting in Madagascar now to address this problem of endangered and threatened lemurs. Thank you, good luck.

Mittermeier: Thank you.

Mullins: Lemurs in their natural habitat looking mighty adorable. See them at theworld.org.

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