Primates in Peril 2022-23 Report, 25 Most Endangered Primates

In the 10^th edition of “Primates in Peril”, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Global Wildlife Conservation groups bring attention to the 25 primates species considered to be among the most endangered worldwide and in the greatest need of conservation measures. The 2020 report includes two great ape species the Tapanuli Orangutan and the Western Chimpanzee as well as the Gaoligong Hoolock Gibbon.

The 2018-2020 list of the world’s 25 most endangered primates has seven species from Africa, five from Madagascar, seven from Asia and six from the Neotropics. Indonesia, Brazil, Ghana, and Cote d’Ivoire each have three, Nigeria and Tanzania two. China, Myanmar, India, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Bolivia, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Republic of Guinea, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Benin and Kenya each have one.

During the discussion of the 2018-2020 list at the XXVII Congress of International Primatological Society (IPS) in Nairobi, a number of the other highly threatened primate species were considered for inclusion. For all of these, the situation in the wild is as precarious as it is for those that finally made it on the list, thus they have been included as “Other Species Considered”, a new category in the top 25 Most Endangered Primates series.

The World’s most 25 Endangered primates: 2018-2020

MADAGASCAR

1. Microcebus manitatra – Bemanasy mouse lemur
2. Hapalemur alaotrensis – Lake Alaotra gentle lemur
3. Lepilemur jamesorum – James’ sportive lemur
4. Indri indri – Indri
5. Daubentonia madagascariensis – Aye-aye

AFRICA

1. Paragalago rondoensis – Rando dwarf galago
2. Cercopithecus roloway – Roloway monkey
3. Rungwecebus kipunji – Kipunji
4. Colobus vellerosus – White-thighed colobus
5. Piliocolobus epieni – Niger Delta red colobus
6. Piliocolobus rufomitratus – Tana River red colobus
7. Pan troglodytes verus – Western chimpanzee

 ASIA

1. Nycticebus javanicus – Javan slow loris
2. Simias concolor – Pig-tailed snub-nose langur
3. Trachypithecus poliocephalus – Golden-headed langur or Cat Ba langur.
4. Trachypithecus geei – Golden langur
5. Semnopithecus vetulus – Purple-faced langur
6. Hoolock tianxing – Skywalker hoolock gibbon 
7. Pongo tapanuliensis – Tapanuli orangutan

NEOTROPICS

1. Callithrix aurita – Buffy-tufted-ear marmoset
2. Saguinus bicolor – Pied tamarin
3. Cebus aequatorialis – Ecuadorian white-fronted capuchin
4. Plecturocebus olallae – Olalla Brothers’ titi monkey
5. Alouatta guariba – Brown howler monkey
6. Ateles geoffroyi – Central American spider monkey.

The Rondo dwarf Galago, Kipunji, Tana River red colobus and indri were added to the list after previously being removed. The other eight species are new to the list.

Primate species that were added to the 2018–2020 list.

In the 11^th edition of the World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates for 2022-2023. The consultation for this list was held in an open meeting on the evening of 12 January 2022, during the IPS-SLAPrim Joint Meeting (XXVIII Congress of the International Primatological Society – IPS and IV Congress of the Latin American Society of Primatology – SLAPrim) in Quito, Ecuador (9–15 January 2022). The session was attended by more than 100 people. Also, since the Quito IPS Congress, originally planned for 2020, was not held until January 2022, the 2020-2022 list of the World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates wound up being this list for 2022–2023.

The 2022–2023 list of the World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates has six species from Africa, four from Madagascar, eight from Asia, and seven from the Neotropics. Madagascar and Brazil both have four, Indonesia has three, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Nigeria, Panama, and Tanzania have two, and Argentina, Belize, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mexico, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Peru, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam each have one.

Eight of these primates are listed as among the world’s most endangered primates for the first time – those listed with an asterisk. The remaining 17 species and subspecies have been listed in previous versions of the 25 most endangered primates. Fourteen primates were dropped from the previous list, 2018–2020.

During the discussion of the 2022–2023 list at the IPS-SLAPrim Joint Meeting (XXVIII IPS Congress and IV SLAPrim Congress) in Quito, a number of other highly threatened primates were considered for inclusion. For all of these, the situation in the wild is as precarious as it is for those that finally made it on the list, thus they have been included as ‘Other Species Considered’.

Primate species were included on the 2018–2020 list but were removed from the 2022–2023 list.