Nearly Extinct Primate Rediscovered in Borneo
Researchers working on the island of Borneo have discovered two tiny new populations of Miller’s grizzled langurs (Presbytis hosei canicrus), one of the world’s 25 most endangered primates.

Strange endangered primates you may have never heard of
The illegal pet trade’s demand for cute-looking primates is devastating Indonesia’s population of slow lorises. But they are not the only endangered primates you may never have heard of that are already under threat of extinction.

Most Recent European Great Ape Discovered
Based on a hominid molar, scientists from Germany, Bulgaria and France have documented that great apes survived in Europe in savannah-like landscapes until seven million years ago.

Lemur-Like Toes Complicate Human Lineage
A 47-million-year-old primate may have been a fashionista of sorts, as new analysis of the fossil suggests it sported grooming claws.

Great ape conservation must be integral to REDD+, says leading primate biologist
Great apes play an important role in the long-term health of forests and climate change schemes such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) should be structured so that they can channel funds to primate conservation projects, leading biologist Ian Redmond said.

Against The Odds: Apes can gamble like humans by calculating chances
Apes are capable of gambling in a similar way to humans, a study claims. Research indicates that the animals are also able to calculate the odds before taking risks.

Law enforcement vital for great ape survival
Recent studies show that the populations of African great apes are rapidly decreasing. Many areas where apes occur are scarcely managed and weakly protected.

Savanna chimps exhibit human-like sharing behavior, anthropologists say
Anthropologists report that chimpanzees in Senegal frequently share food and hunting tools with other chimps. This is thought to be the first study to document non-meat sharing behavior among chimpanzees.

Gorillas threatened by climate change
In the lush mountains of Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, a family of gorillas is lazing in the sun. They might seem relaxed, but as the climate is heating up these great apes are finding it more difficult to find food.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISL52Zy10SQ

You can also view the video directly on YouTube.

Dr. Kerry Bowman has a Ph.D. in Bioethics, a fellowship in Cultural Psychiatry, and a Masters degree in Social Work. He is an Assistant Professor appointed to both University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics and The University of Toronto Centre for Environment. As well, he is the Clinical Ethicist for Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. 

First the good news.

Representing the Canadian Ape Alliance in Africa, Nick January has made great progress over the past few years helping to map vast tracts of territory deep in the Congo Basin. Under the direction of renowned conservation scientists Drs. John and Terese Hart, Nick has been working with the Lukuru Wildlife Research Foundation to document and analyze a region of immense scientific importance and rich biodiversity. Lomami National Park (formerly called TL2 because of the three bordering rivers, Tshuapa, Lomami and Lualaba) encompasses one of the least travelled forest expanses in Central Africa.

Thanks to Nick’s geographic information systems (GIS) expertise and tireless fieldwork, the Canadian Ape Alliance has been acknowledged in the prestigious scholarly publication Science for its contribution in helping to create this invaluable map. Nick was also credited as a contributor to an article in African Primates, co-authored by John Hart.

Photograph by T.C. Hicks

Now the bad news.

The article that recently appeared in African Primates—an open-access, peer-reviewed online journal published by Simon Fraser University—reports a dramatic surge in the bushmeat trade throughout sections of the Bili region of the Democratic Republic of Congo over the past 15 years. Among other endangered species, adult chimpanzees are being illegally hunted not only for their meat, but also for their bones, which are used in various “traditional medicines.” Equally disturbing: orphaned infant chimps are now turning up in large numbers at local markets. They’re kept in abysmal conditions and, if they survive the trauma of captivity, are sold as pets. The article cites a recent boom in artisanal gold and diamond mining operations and an influx of otherwise unemployed hunters as the main reasons for the renewed, heightened trade in bushmeat.

Next steps.

In the face of such dire circumstances, the authors recommend taking concrete steps to prevent further widespread poaching of chimpanzees and other wildlife in this delicate ecosystem.

Click here to read “Trade in Orphans and Bushmeat Threatens One the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Most Important Populations of Eastern Chimpanzees.” (PDF)

Here are the basics:

WHAT: Closing night party – The Bushmeat Crisis in Focus: Finding Hope for Great Apes

WHERE: The Gladstone Gallery, 1214 Queen Street West

WHEN: Thursday, September 29th, 2011

TIME: 6-9 PM

WHY: To raise funds for the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada’s programs here and abroad

TICKETS: $60 ($75 at the door) Tickets can be purchased at www.JaneGoodall.ca or by calling 416 978 3711

INCLUDING:

• Limited Edition photographs for sale by Jo-Anne McArthur
• Small Silent Auction
• Jane Goodall books and merchandise

FEATURING:

• Jo-Anne McArthur, photographer, We Animals
• Dr. Peter Apell, JGI Uganda
• Andrew Westoll, author, The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary

In his talk, Human Well-being is Environmental Well-being, he will share his experiences working around the world as an internationally-respected ethicist and conservationist.

“The assumption that what is good for people is different than what is good for the environment has had negative consequences,” says Dr. Bowman. Through his work, he has seen firsthand how indivisible these two realms are, and on September 17 he will share insights gained over decades, in countries as wide-ranging as Algeria, Suriname, Vietnam, Laos and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea).

TEDx events are locally organized programs created in the TED spirit of ideas worth spreading. The theme of TEDxUTIHP is The Human Experience: an exploration of the social, environmental and medical issues affecting people around the world and the amazing men and women who are working to address them.

Visit www.tedxutihp.com for more information.

Canadian Ape Alliance in association with Nova Music Group presents a fundraiser event “Congo Classrooms for a Brighter Future”.

The Canadian Ape Alliance helped establish the Kahuzi-Biega Environmental School in 2003 and has been instrumental in its ongoing success ever since. Unfolding in phases, the initiative aims to give young students in the Democratic Republic of Congo an opportunity to learn the basics and to acquire an understanding of their role in environmental and wildlife conservation.

The school is located in the Eastern DRC, not far from Kahuzi-Biega National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site that is home to many endangered species, including the eastern lowland gorilla. Proceeds from this event will help fund the construction of three new classrooms, allowing children of the Congo to continue their education and eventually make a positive contribution to their community and its surroundings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3WZYXTsmLU

On Thursday May 19, 2011 an array of talented artists including Grammy Nominated and Juno Award Winning R&B Singer Glenn Lewis, Juno Award Winning Performing Producer Slakah the Beatchild, R&B Singer Melanie Durrant and many others will come together at the renowned Revival Bar in Toronto to raise funds and awareness for the Phase II construction of 3 new classrooms for the Kahuzi-Biega Environmental School.

Featuring Artists:

• Glenn Lewis
• Kardinal Offishall
• Slakah the Beatchild
• Melanie Durrant
• Saidah Baba Talibah
• Art of Fresh
• Justin Nozuka
• Ivana Santilli
• Ayah
• Station 13
• Wade O. Brown and the A Team
• Chris Assaad
• And many more!

More details coming soon!

For up-to-date information please visit our Facebook event page.

Tax receipts will be provided for donations of $50 or more (minus the price of admission). Buy your tickets today.

Featured on ET Canada:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCew6HhaUXM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF-sJgcoY20

The most unique and human-like yet least understood of all the great apes is the bonobo, a species both rare and endangered. Although sometimes called “The pygmy chimpanzee,” this little-known ape is not really a chimpanzee, nor is it a gorilla or an orangutan. It is a unique creature whose anatomy resembles that of “Lucy,” the most famous of the pre-human hominids. Like Lucy, bonobos walk far more upright than chimpanzees, gorillas or orangutans.

Bonobos only live in a small area of what is now The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). For many years, bonobos were safe from hunting because of their enormous similarity to humans; widespread taboos against eating them evolved. Things have changed, the DRC is now at war, there is no longer a domestic protein supply and all forms of farming have been disrupted. Unaware of their endangered status or the health risks of eating animals so similar to humans, many local people, refugees and troops have begun to eat bonobos. Because conservationists evacuated the area at the outset of the war, it is unclear how severely their numbers are being affected. All indications, however, are that the situation is critical. Orphaned baby bonobos, (often a good indicator of the extent of hunting) are showing up in urban areas in large and growing numbers.

Few people are aware of bonobos because, for a long time, scientists have argued about whether they are really different from chimpanzees. Most scientists now recognize that these arguments were based on lack of knowledge rather than fact. They live in large extended family groups and communities and walk single file on trails. They have a complex yet poorly understood communication system that many scientists suspect may be something closer to language than mere emotional expression.

The bonobos’ appearance clearly makes them the most human-like of all apes. The stride, the stance, the resting postures, the gestures and the facial expressions all look more like our own than those of chimpanzees, gorillas or orangutans. Often, in the forest, large groups of 200 to 300 individuals come together for what appear to be ” social visits.” During such times, there is almost constant vocal exchange- the purpose of which is unknown.
Before we actually have a chance to learn about these creatures that look and act more like ourselves than any other ape, they may vanish from the wild completely. At the moment we can only guess at their social structure, at the meanings of their sounds, and at the nature and richness of their lives. Yet we know that they share about 99% of our genetic heritage, much or our anatomy and apparently most, of our emotions.

The great apes of Africa are being pushed to extinction. Across the forest region of West and Central Africa commercial hunting, facilitated by western-owned logging operations in the area, has become the leading threat to the survival of many primates, including gorillas and chimpanzees. This is a wildlife crisis of huge proportion, with impacts on the Great Apes, African economies, ways of life, and human health.

In the utterly remote rain forest of central Africa large populations of lowland gorillas and chimpanzees have been shielded from outside disturbance since before the last Ice Age. In recent years however the drive to sell African rainforest hardwood has had a catastrophic side effect – the explosion of gorilla and chimpanzee hunting for what is known as “bushmeat’. This commerce, facilitated by new logging roads into the pristine forests of the Congo, is now a major wildlife crisis.

The depletion of west Africa’s forests, where Europe traditionally bought its tropical hardwoods, has launched an influx of French, German and Middle Eastern logging companies into the more inaccessible forests of central Africa. At the same time, a regional economic crisis has only accelerated the timber boom: Local currency devaluations in the mid-1990s effectively halved the cost of hauling 800-year-old trees through hundreds of miles of forest to the parquet-flooring and furniture-making markets of Europe and Japan.

Strapped for cash because of slumping cacao exports, the central African governments have gratefully seized a multi-million dollar lifeline created by logging revenues. At the same time, the appetite for wild animal meat is strong in the teeming cities of central Africa. Forest animals including gorillas and chimpanzees, have been a staple of local villagers’ diets for millennia, but Africa’s swelling urban populations, nostalgic for village foods, have turned a subsistence activity into a burgeoning, multimillion-dollar industry.

Newly extended logging roads have become bush meat conduits for poachers who snare and shoot whatever they can. Many logging companies encourage hunting because it also saves the cost of shipping beef or other meat into the remote jungle towns where their workers live.

The bush meat trade is the number one threat to biodiversity in the Congo Basin. A logging road goes in, and soon there isn’t any great apes left in the forests. Thousands of square kilometers have been hunted clean. This bushmeat situation of the central Congo means that all western lowland gorillas as well as chimpanzees and bonobo’s are now under threat. Furthermore, the mountain gorillas and eastern lowland gorillas are under increasing threat from hungry refugees and military due to the wars of the eastern Congo.

To make matters worse we now know bushmeat hunting goes beyond the realm of conservation and the environment. Chimpanzees have been identified as the source of the viruses that have propagated the world AIDS crisis. Furthermore bushmeat could transmit additional variants of SIV which then could mutate and recombine into novel HIV types and further expand the pernicious AIDS plague faced worldwide. Chimpanzees are identical to humans in over 98% of their genome, yet they appear to be resistant to damaging effects of the AIDS virus on their immune system. By studying the biological reasons for this difference, AIDS researchers believe that they may be able to obtain important clues concerning the pathogenic basis of HIV-1 in humans and develop new strategies for treating the disease more effectively. In addition, a better understanding of exactly how the chimpanzee’s immune system responds to SIV-CPZ infection compared to that of humans is also likely to lead to the development of more effective strategies for an HIV-1 vaccine. Coordinated biomedical research and conservation efforts will be key to preventing further spread of SIV/HIV and AIDS. Insisting that logging companies disassociate themselves from all aspects of bushmeat and the establishment of economic alternatives for African hunters holds deeper ramifications than ever before. I have many European colleagues deeply involved in raising awareness about the role of logging companies in this trade.

Because I have a background in cultural studies, social science and ethics, and having worked extensively with primates in the past, I was asked to go to Central Africa to live in a hunter’s camp to better understand local attitudes toward the killing and eating of gorillas and chimpanzees. Being a life-long animal lover and holding conventional Western eating taboos, I was deeply disturbed by what I saw. The contrast between the beauty of the forest all around me, the sound of guns, and the snared, strangled, and mutilated dead animals imbibing the camp was unforgettable. It was a hard test of research objectivity and professional detachment to observe, learn, and encourage open, honest conversation without yielding to any form of interference. Yet the experience was illuminating. The camp was situated at converging forest trails. A steady flow of hunters passed by. Some would often stop for tea, share meals or sometimes spend the night. It was an excellent place to get a glimpse of their world.

I learned that these people were not monstrous and selfish, purposely ignoring an environmental crisis and the suffering of a human-like endangered species; rather, they simply held a different worldview. Their views on the natural world represented a tight weave of fatalism, fundamental Christian beliefs and Animism. Generally people believed the natural world was able to replenish itself. It was God-given and well beyond human influence. People also did not see the environment or animals in finite terms. As one white-haired man put it This is the part of Africa with an abundance of forests and animals; eventually the trees grow back and the animals give birth. What most people were saying implied that people cannot affect the natural environment. A hunter put it this way. It’s natural that animals are going to be eaten. People eat animals. Animals eat each other. That is the way things are. It really doesn’t matter what we say or what laws we have. No one I interviewed saw the death of the great apes in moral terms, rather they saw animals as a God given food supply. As one hunter said: Gorillas are not people. Animals don’t suffer the way people do. They are not the same as us. God has not given them reason and feelings. In reality, the expansion of human moral vision to include the great apes seems to occur only in Western culture, and even there is intermittent.

The blending of cultures and the problems associated with this blending become more urgent as populations soar, as environmental degradation increases, and as biodiversity comes under increasing threat. Although many of us recognise and accept cultural differences on both practical and intellectual levels, we tend to underestimate the implications of these differences. There is a substantial discrepancy between Western views of the environment and African perspectives. In addition, it is dangerous to place a market value on the heads of animals without the tempering effects of Western intellectual and philosophic perspectives related to the importance of biodiversity, the suffering of animals, and concern about environmental degradation.

In the West, many of us believe that saving the great apes — the closest living relatives to humans — is of paramount importance and that social and cultural arguments should be discounted. Yet gorillas and chimpanzees live in Africa, not in the West; their environments have been connected to African human lives and communities for millennia. If the great apes of Africa are to be saved from extinction, they will be saved by Africans. Aligning solutions to African needs and realities becomes essential.

I believe because Western nations created this environmental problem, those nations must assist with interventions that are respectful of African cultures and realities. The gorilla /chimpanzee hunters have been impoverished by the fall in coffee and cocoa prices, and are doing their best to survive in the grim economic realities of Central Africa. They are doing a difficult, sometimes-dangerous job they don’t like. Many are quite afraid of gorillas. All stated they are looking for economic alternatives. Consequently my colleagues and I are developing initiatives described elsewhere on this website.

These interventions are only a beginning. African traditions alone did not create this catastrophe. We must build solutions. Because the Great Apes appear to experience life similarly to humans, I believe that taking the lives of these sentient creatures and causing them suffering raises the same ethical questions as it would for human death and injury. Also, we must now consider the serious global health implications of this trade. With the survival of the Great Apes already in peril, and because humans share as much as 98% of their DNA with apes, through their disappearance it may well be that we could lose part of what it means to be human. These creatures are living fossils. Although I believe all life has meaning, the great apes can be viewed as ambassadors of the biodiversity of the forests; our efforts to save them represent action for the protection and respect for the entire biosphere, including our closest kin.