Published: 2012
Total Pages: 40
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Here we report the seventh iteration of the biennial listing of a consensus of the 25 primate species considered to be among the most endangered worldwide and the most in need of conservation measures. The 2012-2014 list was drawn up during an open meeting held during the XXIV Congress of the International Primatological Society (IPS), Cancún, 14 August 2012. It is a joint effort by the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group, the International Primatological Society, Conservation International, and the Bristol Conservation and Science Foundation. The 2012-2014 list of the world's 25 most endangered primates has five species from Africa, six from Madagascar, nine from Asia, and five from the Neotropics. In terms of individual countries, Madagascar tops the list with six species. Vietnam has five, Indonesia three, Brazil two, and China, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Kenya, Peru, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Venezuela each have one. The changes made in this list compared to the previous iteration (2010-2012) were not because the situation of the nine species that were dropped has improved. In some cases, such as, for example, Varecia variegata, the situation has in fact worsened. By making these changes we intend rather to highlight other, closely related species enduring equally bleak prospects for their future survival. An exception may be the greater bamboo lemur, Prolemur simus, for which recent studies have confirmed a considerably larger distribution range and larger estimated population size than previously assumed. The severe threats to this species in eastern Madagascar remain, though.