Countdown To Extinction For World's Great Apes - Guardian

[hatrack]

"Gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orang-utans - the closest living relatives of humanity - could vanish from the wild within 50 years, say United Nations leaders meeting today in Paris. They have appealed for $25m to save the world's great apes from extinction.
"The clock is standing at one minute to midnight for the great apes, animals that share more than 96% of their DNA with humans," said Klaus Töpfer, the head of the UN environment programme. "If we lose any great ape species we will be destroying a bridge to our own origins, and with it part of our own humanity." He called the $25m (£15m) "the bare minimum we need, the equivalent of providing a dying man with bread and water".

The UN first sounded an alarm about the rapidly dwindling numbers of great apes in 2001 and appealed for funds. But by last year, researchers on the ground had begun to reveal an even more ominous pattern of loss. They found that ape numbers in Africa had been slashed by logging, hunting and disease.

In one population studied, researchers knew of 140 gorillas. After an outbreak of the Ebola virus, they could only find seven alive. "The stark truth is that if we do not act decisively, our children may live in a world without wild apes," they reported. To survive and breed, great apes need undisturbed forest. The western chimpanzee has vanished from Benin, Gambia and Togo. Fewer than 400 remain in Senegal and 300 to 500 in Ghana. The population of chimps in Guinea-Bissau is below 200. Only about 600 mountain gorillas survive in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo."

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Guardian

[xchrom]

1. that would be a trajedy

of huge proportion.
so sad that wildness is seen as a commodity -- and not a very valuable one at that.

[mmm]

2. Orangs

Orang-utans have even been known to watch villagers use boats to cross the local waterways, and then untie a boat and ride it across the river on their own!

Bonobos are man's closest living relatives. They teach their young social skills, use tools to get food, and work together for the good of the entire troop. Hand raised bonobos have been taught how to communicate with humans by using symbols that represent words on a board. They can understand spoken words and reply to questions-- or ask for things by pointing to symbols. Bonobos even laugh when they are tickling each other or playing together.
They are supposedly one of three (man, dolphin, bonobo) that enjoy sex for the sheer pleasure of the act. They settle disputes without
aggression. The bonobo should stay; man should leave.

[NickB79]

6. Don't you wish we evolved from them instead?

Imagine a human society evolved from bonobos instead of our more aggressive ancestors. Non-aggression is the norm, and most problems are settled with sex? That would have been a sight to see, eh?

[henslee]

3. this is sad..... so so sad. we gotta do something!!!!!!!

[seekerofwisdom]

4. it is sad

An I hope somewhere some organization can find $25 million for this cause, though African governments need to look at curtailing development of their habitats.

[brainshrub]

5. The Bonabos to?

Not the bonabos! If we kill off the bonabos, we don't deserve to continue as a species.