monkeys in schools
Future projects
This Section
We are planning on putting together other pieces about different conservation issues and different types of primates. These are a few that we have in various stages of development, if you have any ideas email them to us!
Marmosets and tamarins and the pet trade (Year 1 or 2)
In this country you do not need a licence to keep marmosets and tamarins as pets. This is very worrying because people are not appropriate company for any primates. People do not have the knowledge or facilities to keep primates in the right conditions. Primates need the company of their own kind. They are wild animals and can be dangerous.
To get a pet primate they are often illegally taken from their families and homes and many of them die in transport. For more information about pet primates and the reasons the trade must be stopped please see Wild Futures.
Lemurs and humans in conflict with nature (Years 5 or 6)
All over the world, where primates exist they are in conflict with humans. In some places they are eaten or killed as pests. In others their habitats are being destroyed or occupied by humans. They are used in medicines and captured as pets. Some species can survive because there are other habitats and great numbers of the species so they can live somewhere else. In Madagascar there are habitats that are being destroyed like the bamboo around Lac Alaotra. Urgent action is required to save this habitat and hundreds like it for primates and other animals and plants across the world. For more information about Madagascar and lemurs see Azafady.
Vervets (picture) and proactive conservation (Year 8 or 9)
Everyone knows about the great apes like gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans
and there is a lot of money and energy put into conserving them. But far
fewer people outside of Africa know about vervets. These monkeys are classified
as Least Concern by the IUCN and as such it is very difficult to find money or volunteers to help save them.
They are considered to be pests across the whole of sub-Saharan Africa where they are found and in places are killed. If they continue to be treated in this way they will become endangered and already there are reported lower numbers of them in many different countries. Proactive conservation does not dismiss a 'common' species and wait for it to become endangered before trying to help. For more information on vervets and proactive conservation see Vervet.org
Hainan gibbons and population control (Year 10 or 11)
Endemic primates are only found in one place, which means they are of high conservation status since they are rare and easy to lose. China has several species of endemic primate. They also have a very large population and they consume a lot of wildlife in terms of traditional medicines, pets and foods, including primates. As the population grows and spreads primates like Hainan gibbons are at risk of becoming extinct.
Bonobos and biases in research (Sixth form)
Bonobos are part of the same family as chimpanzees. They are very gentle and have a 'free love' attitude to mating. They enjoy making love for pleasure as well as reproduction. When they were first discovered by the Victorians (who were renowned for being prudish) they attributed the obviously pleasurable activities to a number of different goals but none of them the pursuit of pleasure. Do we always find what it is we are looking for? How can we ensure that we do not bias our own research? For more information on the hippy-ape Visit the Bonobo Conservation Initiative website.
